We speak not only to tell other people what we think, but to tell ourselves what we think. Speech is a part of thought.

Muscular dystrophy ... was never seen until Duchenne described it in the 1850s. By 1860, after his original description, many hundreds of cases had been recognised and described, so much so that Charcot said: 'How is it that a disease so common, so widespread, and so recognisable at a glance - a disease which has doubtless always existed - how is it that it is recognised only now? Why did we need M. Duchenne to open our eyes?'

I have to live in the richest, deepest, most productive way I can

My impression is that a sense of rhythm, which has no analog in language, is unique and that its correlation with movement is unique to human beings. Why else would children start to dance when they're two or three? Chimpanzees don't dance.

When I was five, I am told, and asked what my favorite things in the world were, I answered, smoked salmon and Bach.

I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort of musical species.

If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it.