Wilder Penfield Quotes & Sayings

The problem of neurology is to understand man himself. — Wilder Penfield

In spite of all these disquieting triumphs in the field of natural science, it's astonishing how little man has learned about himself, and how much there is to learn. How little we know about this brain which made social evolution possible, and of the mind. How little we know of the nature and spirit of man and God. We stand now before this inner frontier of ignorance. If we could pass it, we might well discover the meaning of life and understand man's destiny. — Wilder Penfield

Brain surgery is a terrible profession. If I did not feel it will become different in my lifetime, I should hate it. — Wilder Penfield

Although the content of consciousness depends in large measure on neuronal activity, awareness itself does not.To me, it seems more and more reasonable to suggest that the mind may be a distinct and different essence. — Wilder Penfield

Among the millions of nerve cells that clothe parts of the brain there runs a thread. It is the thread of time, the thread that has run through each succeeding wakeful hour of the individual. — Wilder Penfield

I realized that there was a thrilling undiscovered country to be explored in the mechanisms of the mammalian nervous system. Through it, one might approach the mystery of the mind ... — Wilder Penfield

The brain is the organ of destiny. It holds within its humming mechanism secrets that will determine the future of the human race. — Wilder Penfield

My plea to educators and parents is that they should give some thought to the nature of the brain of a child, for the brain is a living mechanism, not a machine. In case of breakdown, it can substitute one of its parts for the function of another. But it has its limitations. It is subject to inexorable change with the passage of time. — Wilder Penfield

Rest, with nothing else, results in rust. It corrodes the mechanisms of the brain. The rhubarb that no one picks goes to seed. — Wilder Penfield

It is fair to say that science provides no method of controlling the mind. Scientific work on the brain does not explain the mind-not yet. — Wilder Penfield

Canadian weather resembles a slightly spoiled beautiful girl with a good heart, but a bad disposition. After being horrid for much too long a time, she suddenly turns right about and makes up for everything with so much charm that you vow again you always loved her! — Wilder Penfield

But there was something else that I discovered in Madrid. It had more to do with the spirit than it did with knowledge and yet it was something I could hope to hand on. A change in method or technique accounts for many things in human history. — Wilder Penfield

This was a lonely project. But perhaps there is, in all research, a time when a man is all alone and must struggle against his own doubts. Even when he holds to his course, doubts go along with him and mingle with the questions at the back of his mind. But as I have said, we have burned our bridges. I could only explore now. Most explorers are thought to be mad by someone, and all explorers are lonely. Perhaps a touch of madness is a help - that and the knowledge that someone, like Dulcinea, believes in you. — Wilder Penfield

The brain has not explained the mind fully. — Wilder Penfield

It has always been my belief that, for everyone who is ready and willing, there is a place. it seems to wait for him or her, in some good human cause. Causes are man-made, to be sure, and in the long run, I believe man can control the destiny of civilization on this earth. And yet I know that, beyond it all, there is an everlasting purpose, and within each one of us there is that lonely something that links us with Divinity. The link is there, to be used or disregarded. Each must make his own choice. p.117-118 — Wilder Penfield

Mind, brain, and body make the man, and the man is capable of so much! — Wilder Penfield