Ned Vizzini Quotes

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.

I used to be able to think. My brain's circuits were all connected, and I had spark, a quickness of mind that let me function well in the world.

For somebody who has injured their brain, every single thing they say and think will be the subject of their own questioning.

People always complain about their memories, never about their minds.

I got tested to see what condition my brain is in. And it's not in real good shape.

I had two experiences with very close friends of mine who experienced aphasia, the loss of language. It shocked me.

Mountaineers have often observed a lack of clarity in their mental state at high altitudes; it is difficult for the stupid mind to observe how stupid it is.

I started having some memory-loss issues. I took a neurological exam, and they said, "Well, you should stop fighting now." And I kept begging them for one more fight, one more fight, and the doctor said to me, "How much are they going to pay you?" I was supposed to fight three more times, and one would have been for a cruiser belt. So I said, "I just need to fight three more times." He said, "Listen, you can't even get hit in the head one more time, your neuro is so bad."

All sorts of things can keep one awake. But as you get older - this is what the stroke thing really brought home to me - this thing that I never paid attention to: my brain. I've always been conscious that, of course, after a night of getting stoned, my head would feel foggy; if I got drunk the night before I'd be hungover. But that was the extent of my concern about my brain. And then with the stroke thing, it made me realize, "God! That's my main source of income." So it relates actually to your other question about growing old.

I stay out too late, got nothing in my brain.

My mind is turning into kind of a fine gelatinous ball of pepper

If you have an active mind, it always helps. You know, people who don't do crosswords, their minds fall asleep. That's why I do them-my mind is always working. One day my brain is going to explode through the top of my head.

I sat for a moment, figuring things out, then decided to stay there. If I was on the floor, I couldn't fall down.

Végre nem butulok tovább (I've finally stopped getting dumber).

I could not think without writing.

I never have lunch because it makes me foggy-headed.

Twenty minutes in the morning, 20 in the evening. Transcendental Meditation teachers have taught everyone in my company who wanted to learn how to meditate. The results have been awesome. Better sleep. Improved relationships with spouses, children, coworkers. Some people who once suffered migraines don't anymore. Greater productivity and creativity all around.

Whenever a mind is simple and receives an old wisdom, old things pass away,--means, teachers, texts, temples fall; it lives now, and absorbs past and future into present hour. All things are made sacred by relation to it,--one as much as another.

External objects produce decided effects upon the brain. A man shut up between four walls soon loses the power to associate words and ideas together. How many prisoners in solitary confinement become idiots, if not mad, for want of exercise for the thinking faculty!

We need physical exercise to prepare our brain for long periods of concentration

I try to be self-disciplined with my thoughts. It’s our thoughts that matter most, and all the rest falls into line behind that: if I remember who I really am and why I’m on the earth, then I more naturally want to treat my body like a temple and so forth.

Oh, would that my mind could let fall its dead ideas, as the tree does its withered leaves!

It is impossible to live without brains, either one's own or borrowed.

I always tried to be open-minded, but not so open-minded that my brains would fall out. As G. K. Chesterton says, "The purpose of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to close it again on something solid." I opened my mind, and I finally closed it on the most solid reality I had ever experienced. On December 19, 1959, at 8:30PM, during my second year at the university, I became a Christian.

The old are in a second childhood.