Joshua Foer Quotes

The brain is a muscle, and I'm a kind of body-builder.

Children love this idea that their brain is like a muscle that gets stronger as they use it.

Much of our brainpower goes unused, and many people could benefit greatly from optimizing their mental assets.

Like our physical bodies, our memory becomes out of shape. As children, we are constantly learning new experiences, but by the time we reach our 20s, we start to lead a more sedentary life both mentally and physically. Our lives become routine, and we stop challenging our brains, and our memory starts to suffer.

I've always been fascinated by intelligence and how our brains work, and how they can be improved.

Through using our memory to its fullest we can unlock the vast reservoir of human potential that isn't currently being used.

To stimulate wildly weak and untrained minds is to play with mighty fires.

Studies of social games, puzzle games, and brain-training games have shown they have little effect on the brain despite often being marketed as improving memory and reaction speeds.

No, I'm not interested in developing a powerful brain.

My own philanthropic efforts have always included an educational element, whether it's expanding opportunities to educate a promising mind or extending the brain's ability to learn.

The human mind is our fundamental resource.

It is imperfection - not perfection - that is the end result of the program written into that formidably complex engine that is the human brain, and of the influences exerted upon us by the environment and whoever takes care of us during the long years of our physical, psychological and intellectual development.

Cultivate the frontal portion of her brain as much as that of man is cultivated, and she will stand his equal at least. Even now, where her mind has been called out at all, her intellect is as bright, as capacious, and as powerful as his.

Some people say video games rot your brain, but I think they work different muscles that maybe you don't normally use.

Along with our many human propensities, we evolved a huge cerebral cortex with which we make decisions.

Your brain, like your tongue, is a muscle. Practicing thinking by yourself really helps develop your brain, which you need throughout your day. I like to practice my thinking in a darkened room, alone.

All evidence shows that we are actually getting smarter. Roughly we are getting 10 IQ points smarter every decade. The speed of innovation is also faster.

There is little evidence that our individual intelligence has improved through recorded history.

The mind is just another muscle.

What a peculiar privilege has this little agitation of the brain which we call 'thought'.

If a brain is exercised properly, anyone can grow intelligence, at any age, and potentially by a lot. Or you can just let your brain idle - and watch it slowly, inexorably, go to seed like a sedentary body.

If I have 1% of my dad's brain, I'll be happy. He's so quick.

If little else, the brain is an educational toy.

People haven't even begun to tap into the potential of what the mind is possible of doing. We only use a certain percentage of our brains.

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