Semir Zeki Quotes

#1. I can really recommend a beautifully but sparsely furnished room with empty walls!

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#2. What is creative is the seeking of perfection - and not attaining it.

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#3. I have the strong suspicion that when the brain's greed system is in operation, those parts of the brain that regulate ethical conduct are de-activated. Perhaps the greater the amount of money to be made, the greater the deactivation of the system that regulates ethical behaviour.

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#4. The reaction was immediate. The blood flow was in proportion to how much the painting was liked.

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#5. The Japanese, if I understand them, are masters of the unsaid and the unstated, of subtlety and ambiguity, all of which constitute powerful stimulants to the imagination.

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#6. Laughter is very infectious, and why it should be so is a most interesting neurological problem. But it also has other, more physiological, benefits. Apparently it boosts the immune system, reduces stress hormones, massages the heart and diaphragm and engenders a 'feel good' factor.

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#7. Why does not the brain adapt to repeated exposure and become indifferent, instead of satisfied?

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#8. When politicians deny anything fiercely, there is a good chance that it will happen.

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#9. Self-censorship, whether known or unknown, is an unwelcome brake on creativity; it stifles self-expression and hence prevents a work from reaching the heights of great art.

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#10. I gather that the dopaminergic system in the reward centres of the brain respond even more vigorously to the expectation of reward than to reward itself. Hence, perhaps, the disappointment.

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#11. I always expect the worst from this evil and wicked world and am often pleasantly surprised when the worst does not come to pass, but never or rarely surprised or upset when it does.

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#12. As soon as your brain starts telling you that you can't have a tree that is blue then you stop being able to paint trees.

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#13. Perhaps there is a minimum distance that should separate one exhibit from another ... Indeed those specialized in psychophysics have actually come up with some rules.

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#14. In the fight between biology and morality, biology has commonly won in the end.

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#15. Artists erase reality to a greater or lesser extent, and substitute their own reality - created by their brains, instead.

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