Norman Cousins Quotes

One sits down first; one thinks afterwards.

Only the thinking man lives his life, the thoughtless man's life passes him by.

Pondering is a little like considering and a little like thinking, but looser. To ponder, one must let the facts roll around the rim of the mind's roulette wheel, coming to settle in whichever slot they feed pulled to.

They only babble who practise not reflection.

If there is time to reflect, slowing down is likely to be a good idea.

We have everything we need, in fact, except the most important thing of all — time to think and the habit of thought.

Every thought is an afterthought.

We both (Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett) insist on a lot of time being available almost every day to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. We read and think.

Most persons who indulge in second thought don't do much thinking when the subject is presented for first thought.

To think is to confine yourself to a single thought that one day stands still like a star in the world's sky.

You're thinking about something, my dear, and that makes you forget to talk. I can't tell you just now what the moral of that is, but I shall remember it in a bit." "Perhaps it hasn't one," Alice ventured to remark. "Tut, tut, child!" said the Duchess. "Everything's got a moral, if only you can find it.

It takes time and effort and preparation to think. Statesmen are far too busy making speeches to think.

We skim over the surface thoughtlessly. But we must acknowledge that thinking well is a time-consuming process. We can't expect instant results. We have to slow down a bit, and take the time to contemplate, meditate, and even pray. It is the only route to a more meaningful and efficient existence.

He had been (Thinking? Praying?) It was all the same thing.

My motto is, 'What's the hurry?' I'm trying to get it across to the modern world that we need to sit around and think a little bit more.

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work.

Leverage your time more by spending a little more time every day imagining and a lot less time every day doing. Do a little more imagining and a little more less doing. Until eventually most of what's happening is happening in the cool, calm, anticipatory state. Just imagine yourself into the successes, and watch what happens. Imagine a little more and act a little less.

I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business.

But for me I think it's just about taking that time of reflection and contemplation. That's probably my process in every decision that I make: to make sure that I spend time just with myself, and really times of silence and mediation to go through that process; and music is a big part of that as well.

Whatever sentence will bear to be read twice, we may be sure was thought twice.

We are not conscious of most things until we ask ourselves questions about them.

Every man whose business it is to think knows that he must for part of the day create about himself a pool of silence.

Sometimes I do have something in my head. But, for me, I think it usually ends up being about considering all of the elements, and trying to understand the distance from where we are to where we want to go.

Whenever I'm out-of-doors and find myself wanting to have a first-rate think, I fling myself down on my back, throw my arms and legs out so that I look like an asterisk, and gaze at the sky.

Avery: "So I've been doing some thinking." Cam: "Oh God." Avery: "Shut up.