Instinct is action taken in pursuance of a purpose, but…

The idea of suicide, understandable as it is, does not seem commendable to me. We live in order to gain the greatest possible amount…

— Carl Jung

One of the ultimate challenges for biology is to understand the brain's processing of unconscious and conscious perception, emotion, and empathy.

— Eric Kandel

“These three ingredients—focusing on conscious access, manipulating conscious perception, and carefully recording introspection—have transformed the study of consciousness into a normal experimental science.”

— Stanislas Dehaene

The brain internally simulates what will happen if you were to perform some action under specific conditions. Internal models not only play a role…

— David Eagleman

“I was stringing beads of different sizes in symmetrical groups—two large beads, three small ones, and so on. I had made many mistakes, and…

— Helen Keller

“Freed from thoughts of winning, I instantly play better. I stop thinking, stop feeling. My shots become a half-second quicker, my decisions become the…

— Andre Agassi

How could they say that they truly loved each other? They had simply grown up together, been children together, and the proximity of it,…

— David Guterson

As a kid, in the Runaways, I would see the interviewers start to ask about our personal lives and what we did — and…

— Joan Jett

The dog is guided by kindly instinct to the man or woman whose heart is open to his advances. The cat often leaves the…

— Agnes Repplier

You don't think. It's all instinct. If you stop to think, you're gone.

— Sugar Ray Robinson

I never think of things rationally or intellectually. I swear, every single decision I make is just instinct and my instincts tend to be…

— Neill Blomkamp

Empires fall, ids explode, great symphonies are written, and behind all of it is a single instinct that demands satisfaction.

— Sherwin B. Nuland

I will follow my instincts, be myself for good or ill, and see what will be the upshot.

— John Muir

Imitation is the first instinct of the awakening mind.

— Maria Montessori

Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these…

— William Bernbach