---
title: "4 Left Hemisphere Quotes By Iain McGilchrist"
description: "4 Left Hemisphere quotes by Iain McGilchrist. Plus more from Iain McGilchrist and more Left Hemisphere sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/iain-mcgilchrist-20810_right-now_our-talent-for-division-for-seeing-the-p_392001.jpg"
---

> [“Our talent for division, for seeing the parts, is of staggering importance – second only to our capacity to transcend it, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/our-talent-for-division-for-seeing-the-parts-is-of-staggering/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a83/iain-mcgilchrist-20810_right-now_our-talent-for-division-for-seeing-the-p_392001.jpg)

> [“Language enables the left hemisphere to represent the world ‘off-line’, a conceptual version, distinct from the world of experience, and shielded from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/language-enables-the-left-hemisphere-to-represent-the-world-off-line/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f2a/iain-mcgilchrist-20810_language_language-enables-the-left-hemisphere-to_1068228.jpg)

> [“The really interesting finding here, as the authors themselves put it, is that ‘without batting an eye’ the left hemisphere draws mistaken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/the-really-interesting-finding-here-as-the-authors-themselves-put-it/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/591/iain-mcgilchrist-20810_books_the-really-interesting-finding-here-as-t_2489997.jpg)

> [“So the left hemisphere needs certainty and needs to be right. The right hemisphere makes it possible to hold several ambiguous possibilities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/so-the-left-hemisphere-needs-certainty-and-needs-to-be-right-the/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d6a/iain-mcgilchrist-20810_hemisphere_so-the-left-hemisphere-needs-certainty-a_3172766.jpg)

## More by Iain McGilchrist

> [Attention may sound dull, but it is an essential aspect of consciousness. In fact, it governs what it is that we turn out to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/attention-may-sound-dull-but-it-is-an-essential-aspect-of/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [“Our talent for division, for seeing the parts, is of staggering importance – second only to our capacity to transcend it, in order to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/our-talent-for-division-for-seeing-the-parts-is-of-staggering/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [Perspective in art has receded along with harmony in music: We tend more and more to see the world as a heap of intrinsically…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/perspective-in-art-has-receded-along-with-harmony-in-music-we-tend/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [To understand something, whether we are aware of it or not, depends on choosing a model. We get to understand what we see by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/to-understand-something-whether-we-are-aware-of-it-or-not-depends-on/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [I trained in medicine after pursuing an academic career in the humanities, mainly because of my interest in the relationship between mind and body,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/i-trained-in-medicine-after-pursuing-an-academic-career-in-the/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [We have 26,000 genes. But a blind, millimetre-long roundworm with only 959 cells in total already has over 19,000.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/we-have-26-000-genes-but-a-blind-millimetre-long-roundworm-with-only/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [“When Lear cries, ‘Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard hearts?’, we could reply, on one level, yes – a defect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/when-lear-cries-is-there-any-cause-in-nature-that-makes-these-hard/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [The genome was once thought to be just the blueprint for a living organism, like a combination of the architect's plan for a building…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/the-genome-was-once-thought-to-be-just-the-blueprint-for-a-living/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [“Language enables the left hemisphere to represent the world ‘off-line’, a conceptual version, distinct from the world of experience, and shielded from the immediate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/language-enables-the-left-hemisphere-to-represent-the-world-off-line/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [Being uprooted from your own culture, provided you take with you the way of thinking and being that characterises the more integrated social culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/being-uprooted-from-your-own-culture-provided-you-take-with-you-the/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [“Every thing that purports to be the truth is, according to Heidegger, inevitably an approximation and true things, things that really are, rather than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/every-thing-that-purports-to-be-the-truth-is-according-to-heidegger/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [Over recent years, urbanisation, globalisation and the destruction of local cultures has led to a rise in the prevalence of mental illness in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/over-recent-years-urbanisation-globalisation-and-the-destruction-of/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [“If there is a tendency for the right hemisphere to be more sorrowful and prone to depression, this can, in my view, be seen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/if-there-is-a-tendency-for-the-right-hemisphere-to-be-more-sorrowful/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [In Shakespeare, unique individuals repudiate the stereotypes demanded by the structure of the play: Shylock commands our sympathy, Barnardine refuses to be hanged. Individuals…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/in-shakespeare-unique-individuals-repudiate-the-stereotypes-demanded/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

> [The human genome contains so much data that, it has been calculated, it would fill 43 volumes of Webster's International Dictionary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iain-mcgilchrist/the-human-genome-contains-so-much-data-that-it-has-been-calculated-it/)

[Iain McGilchrist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iain-mcgilchrist/)

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