"The brain is the organ of destiny. It holds within its humming mechanism secrets that will determine the future of the human race."
"Although the content of consciousness depends in large measure on neuronal activity, awareness itself does not.To me, it seems more and more reasonable to suggest that the mind may be a distinct and different essence."
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Source: Wilder Penfield (1963). “The second career: with other essays and addresses”
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"In spite of all these disquieting triumphs in the field of natural science, it's astonishing how little man has learned about himself, and how much there is to learn. How little we know about this brain which made social evolution possible, and of the mind. How little we know of the nature and spirit of man and God. We stand now before this inner frontier of ignorance. If we could pass it, we might well discover the meaning of life and understand man's destiny."
"Brain surgery is a terrible profession. If I did not feel it will become different in my lifetime, I should hate it."
"Rest, with nothing else, results in rust. It corrodes the mechanisms of the brain. The rhubarb that no one picks goes to seed."
"Mind, brain, and body make the man, and the man is capable of so much!"
"My plea to educators and parents is that they should give some thought to the nature of the brain of a child, for the brain is a living mechanism, not a machine. In case of breakdown, it can substitute one of its parts for the function of another. But it has its limitations. It is subject to inexorable change with the passage of time."