Robin Dunbar quotes

“It's perhaps not so much how your amygdala is tuned that makes you politically extreme, but that your intrinsic nervousness makes you more responsive to things that might seem to threaten your particular social world. Education probably plays an important role in dampening that response by allowing the brain's frontal lobes (where much of the brain's conscious work goes on) to counteract the emotional responses with a more considered view, so explaining why education is invariably the friend of liberal politics.”
-- Robin Dunbar

Source : Robin Dunbar (2011). “How Many Friends Does One Person Need? Dunbar’s Number and Other Evolutionary Quirks”, p.170, Harvard University Press

#Emotional Quotes #Views Quotes #Play Quotes

“As applied to substance abuse, the cognitive approach helps individuals to come to grips with the problems leading to emotional distress and to gain a broader perspective on their reliance on drugs for pleasure and/or relief from discomfort.”

Source : Aaron T. Beck, Fred D. Wright, Cory F. Newman, Bruce S. Liese (2011). “Cognitive Therapy of Substance Abuse”, p.47, Guilford Press

“No matter what's happening in the Middle East - the Arab Spring, et cetera, the economic challenges, high rates of unemployment - the emotional, critical issue is always the Israeli-Palestinian one.”

“The actor becomes an emotional athlete.”

“To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries.”

“My car's my best friend. My office. My home. My location. I have a very intimate sense when I am in a car with someone next to me. We're in the most comfortable seats because we're not facing each other, but sitting side by side. We don't look at each other, but instead do so only when we want to. We're allowed to look around without appearing rude. We have a big screen in front of us and side views. Silence doesn't seem heavy or difficult. Nobody serves anybody. And many other aspects. One most important thing is that it transports us from one place to another.”

Source : Interview with Geoff Andrew, www.theguardian.com. April 28, 2005.

“Upon the subject of education ... I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.”

“Poetry is a way for me to explore a tingly feeling, to let it play itself out, and also to map it. I feel like I'm making little star maps when I write poems.”

“My downtime tends to resemble my uptime. Weekends are workdays, but toned down. Over the whole weekend, I may have five meetings, as opposed to six on a weekday. I used to play piano for 30 minutes at night, but I had to pull that out of my schedule. I don't have time for nonwork stuff.”

“If you want something to play with go find yourself a toy, baby, my time is too expensive and I'm not a little boy.”

“I think being recognized more is something you have to get used to, whether it's your homeland or when you're traveling. People recognize me from my play or a commercial I've done. It's just a normal part of life.”