Semir Zeki Quotes

#1. I've come to a much more controlled idea about death and loss, but I don't think it's possible to come to that much more controlled idea until you've gone through the crazy part ... I don't mean that I'm controlled. I mean that I gave up the idea that I had control. That's the new control.

Joan Didion

#2. There Kelvin proved himself such a prodigy that he was admitted to Glasgow University at the exceedingly tender age of ten.

Bill Bryson

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

Semir Zeki

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

Semir Zeki

#5. 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.

Semir Zeki

#6. 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.

Semir Zeki

#7. 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.

Semir Zeki

#8. 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.

Semir Zeki

#9. Comics are really my life blood in a lot of respects.

Bill Sienkiewicz

#10. 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.

Semir Zeki

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

Semir Zeki

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

Semir Zeki

#13. Act with purpose, courage, confidence, competence and intelligence until these qualities 'lock in' to your subconscious mind.

Brian Tracy

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

Semir Zeki

#15. 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.

Semir Zeki

#16. 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.

Semir Zeki

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

Semir Zeki

#18. 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.

Semir Zeki

#19. There is bound to be a certain amount of trouble running any country. If you are president, the trouble happens to you. But if you are a tyrant you can arrange things so that most of the trouble happens to other people.

Don Marquis

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

Semir Zeki

#21. Swift flies our time on pinions fleet, Like vapours on the breeze; The transient bliss we now call sweet, The passing moments seize. The gilded joy, the present hour, Soon wing themselves away; Departing like the fading flower That pleas'd us Yesterday.

William Muir