The neurologist died Sunday aged 82. Here are just a few of his thoughts on topics from music and perception, to ageing and how he felt when he learned of his terminal cancer.
Dr. Oliver Sacks speaks at Columbia University June 3, 2009 in New York City. Sacks was appointed Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center in 2007.
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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.
Via oliversacks.com
Every act of perception, is to some degree an act of creation, and every act of memory is to some degree an act of imagination.
Via oliversacks.com
We see with the eyes, but we see with the brain as well. And seeing with the brain is often called imagination. And we are familiar with the landscapes of our own imagination, our inscapes. We've lived with them all our lives. But there are also hallucinations as well, and hallucinations are completely different. They don't seem to be of our creation. They don't seem to be under our control. They seem to come from the outside, and to mimic perception.
Via ted.com
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12 Beautiful And Poignant Quotes From Oliver Sacks