--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he…" description: "\"If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c45/oliver-sacks-2132_eye_if-a-man-has-lost-a-leg-or-an-eye-he-kno_1816338.jpg" --- # If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a… ![“If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it.” quote by Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c45/oliver-sacks-2132_eye_if-a-man-has-lost-a-leg-or-an-eye-he-kno_1816338.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c45/oliver-sacks-2132_eye_if-a-man-has-lost-a-leg-or-an-eye-he-kno_1816338.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c45/oliver-sacks-2132_eye_if-a-man-has-lost-a-leg-or-an-eye-he-kno_1816338.jpg) > “If a man has lost a leg or an eye, he knows he has lost a leg or an eye; but if he has lost a self—himself—he cannot know it, because he is no longer there to know it.” [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Losing one's sense of self is unknowable because self-awareness requires the self to exist. **In simple terms:** You cannot notice losing yourself if you no longer exist. Key Takeaway Cultivate self‑reflection before identity erodes. Themes identity self‑awareness existence Mood introspective somber Type philosophical reflective When to use this quote - therapy sessions - midlife crisis - spiritual retreats - mental health counseling Key Concepts philosophy psychology ontology Questions to Reflect On - How do you recognize when your sense of self is shifting? - What practices keep your identity grounded? A Different Perspective Self‑loss may be gradual and unnoticed, making intervention hard. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Blind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blind/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) ## Related quotes > [It's that experienced eye that knows what the public loves and how to create that Hollywood magic that drives pop culture.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cabrera/it-s-that-experienced-eye-that-knows-what-the-public-loves-and-how-to/) [John Cabrera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cabrera/) > [If I had lost a leg, I would tell them, instead of a boy, no one would ever ask me if I was 'over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-edwards/if-i-had-lost-a-leg-i-would-tell-them-instead-of-a-boy-no-one-would/) [Elizabeth Edwards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-edwards/) > [My ancestors came over from Germany about the time of the Civil War and one of them lost a leg and went back to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/my-ancestors-came-over-from-germany-about-the-time-of-the-civil-war/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [The eye on the hand can see to you all. It is normally for your life. They don't want lost eye. If your eye…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mayte/the-eye-on-the-hand-can-see-to-you-all-it-is-normally-for-your-life/) [Mayte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mayte/) > [As the eye of the body once put out, can never be restored by the creature's art, so neither can the spiritual eye lost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gurnall/as-the-eye-of-the-body-once-put-out-can-never-be-restored-by-the/) [William Gurnall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gurnall/) > [“Do I still 'ave an eye?" I laughed. "Still there." He straightened with a sigh. "Too bad. I hear girls take a liking to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tess-oliver/do-i-still-ave-an-eye-i-laughed-still-there-he-straightened-with-a/) [Tess Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tess-oliver/) > [I first found out I had cancer on my eye and lost an eye to this disease when I was 16, and I've since…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-rath/i-first-found-out-i-had-cancer-on-my-eye-and-lost-an-eye-to-this/) [Tom Rath](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-rath/) > [“...the words of young Ted Kennedy, Jr., who lost his leg to cancer. "People are taught we should look perfect," he said. "I wondered…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erma-bombeck/the-words-of-young-ted-kennedy-jr-who-lost-his-leg-to-cancer-people/) [Erma Bombeck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erma-bombeck/) > [“engaged him on the      spot to be ship's cook.  Long John Silver, he is      called, and has lost a leg; but that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/engaged-him-on-the-spot-to-be-ship-s-cook-long-john-silver-he-is/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [But if I'd flown back, I would probably have lost my leg because of the blood clots. I've got two scars down the side…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/luke-shaw/but-if-i-d-flown-back-i-would-probably-have-lost-my-leg-because-of/) [Luke Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/luke-shaw/) > [“A cat that has lost one leg will run on three legs. That's not a sad thing at all. Run.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaori-ozaki/a-cat-that-has-lost-one-leg-will-run-on-three-legs-that-s-not-a-sad/) [Kaori Ozaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaori-ozaki/) > [There's a big difference between me being an amputee from when I was 13 months old to someone who's lost their leg in an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-brooker/there-s-a-big-difference-between-me-being-an-amputee-from-when-i-was/) [Alex Brooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-brooker/) > [I've heard this stuff about a kicker 'losing his leg' ever since I was a rookie, and I can tell you that there is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-blanda/i-ve-heard-this-stuff-about-a-kicker-losing-his-leg-ever-since-i-was/) [George Blanda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-blanda/) > [I would not have climbed Everest had I not met with the accident in 2011. Though I lost my leg, it made me a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arunima-sinha/i-would-not-have-climbed-everest-had-i-not-met-with-the-accident-in/) [Arunima Sinha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arunima-sinha/) > [“ I Am! I am—yet what I am none cares or knows; My friends forsake me like a memory lost: I am the self-consumer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-clare/i-am-i-am-yet-what-i-am-none-cares-or-knows-my-friends-forsake-me/) [John Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-clare/) ## More by Oliver Sacks > [“The feelings are similar, in some ways, to those one has in Rome or Athens, but quite different in other ways, because this culture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-feelings-are-similar-in-some-ways-to-those-one-has-in-rome-or/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [But the saddest difference between them was that Zazetsky, as Luria said, 'fought to regain his lost faculties with the indomitable tenacity of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-the-saddest-difference-between-them-was-that-zazetsky-as-luria/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Music can lift us out of depression or move us to tears - it is a remedy, a tonic, orange juice for the ears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/music-can-lift-us-out-of-depression-or-move-us-to-tears-it-is-a/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have five senses in which we glory and which we recognise and celebrate, senses that constitute the sensible world for us. But there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-five-senses-in-which-we-glory-and-which-we-recognise-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“But it must be said from the outset that a disease is never a mere loss or excess— that there is always a reaction,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/but-it-must-be-said-from-the-outset-that-a-disease-is-never-a-mere/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [There is no one part of the brain which recognizes or responds emotionally to music. Instead, there are many different parts responding to different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/there-is-no-one-part-of-the-brain-which-recognizes-or-responds/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-think-there-is-no-culture-in-which-music-is-not-very-important-and/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Who cared if there was really any Being to pray to? What mattered was the sense of giving thanks and praise, the feeling of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/who-cared-if-there-was-really-any-being-to-pray-to-what-mattered-was/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“unconscious motives may sometimes ally themselves to physiological propensities, of how one cannot abstract an ailment or its treatment from the whole pattern, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/unconscious-motives-may-sometimes-ally-themselves-to-physiological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [“We have, each of us, a life-story, an inner narrative — whose continuity, whose sense, is our lives. It might be said that each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/we-have-each-of-us-a-life-story-an-inner-narrative-whose-continuity/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [I regard music therapy as a tool of great power in many neurological disorders -- Parkinson's and Alzheimer's -- because of its unique capacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/i-regard-music-therapy-as-a-tool-of-great-power-in-many-neurological/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Psychotic hallucinations, whether they are visual or vocal, they address you. They accuse you. They seduce you. They humiliate you. They jeer at you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/psychotic-hallucinations-whether-they-are-visual-or-vocal-they/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [Much more of the brain is devoted to movement than to language. Language is only a little thing sitting on top of this huge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/much-more-of-the-brain-is-devoted-to-movement-than-to-language/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [About 10 percent of the hearing impaired get musical hallucinations, and about 10 percent of the visually impaired get visual hallucinations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/about-10-percent-of-the-hearing-impaired-get-musical-hallucinations/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) > [The rhythm of music is very, very important for people with Parkinson's. But it's also very important with other sorts of patients, such as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-sacks/the-rhythm-of-music-is-very-very-important-for-people-with-parkinson/) [Oliver Sacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) [Explore all 177 Oliver Sacks quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-sacks/) ## More Blind quotes > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [Love is so blind, it feels right when it's wrong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beyonce-knowles/love-is-so-blind-it-feels-right-when-it-s-wrong/) [Beyonce Knowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beyonce-knowles/) > [... Arthur Gride, whose bleared eyes gloated only over the outward beauties, and were blind to the spirit which reigned within, evinced - a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/arthur-gride-whose-bleared-eyes-gloated-only-over-the-outward/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [“A man who saw has turned blind, A hearer deaf, A leader now leads astray!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miriam-lichtheim/a-man-who-saw-has-turned-blind-a-hearer-deaf-a-leader-now-leads-astray/) [Miriam Lichtheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miriam-lichtheim/) > [“What I shall feel to-morrow I cannot tell. Maybe I shall go blind again, for women are never two days alike in their minds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-parker/what-i-shall-feel-to-morrow-i-cannot-tell-maybe-i-shall-go-blind/) [Gilbert Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-parker/) > [Now the stage today is to know that Self Realization gives you experiences and then your faith is established. Not blind but open enlightened…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nirmala-srivastava/now-the-stage-today-is-to-know-that-self-realization-gives-you/) [Nirmala Srivastava](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nirmala-srivastava/) > [The more I produce, the less I am certain. On the road along which the artist walks, night falls ever more densely. Finally, he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/the-more-i-produce-the-less-i-am-certain-on-the-road-along-which-the/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [“The heart’s blind. It’s the head that causes all the trouble. Sometimes both are stupid.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/k-bromberg/the-heart-s-blind-it-s-the-head-that-causes-all-the-trouble-sometimes/) [K. Bromberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-bromberg/) > [“In the story of the blind men and the elephant, what’s usually ignored is the fact that each man’s description was correct. What Faye…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nathan-hill/in-the-story-of-the-blind-men-and-the-elephant-what-s-usually-ignored/) [Nathan Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nathan-hill/) > [My favorite performance would definitely be "Toxic," which was my blind audition song. It was the start of it all and it was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/melanie-martinez/my-favorite-performance-would-definitely-be-toxic-which-was-my-blind/) [Melanie Martinez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/melanie-martinez/) > [Our attitude towards evil must be freed from hatred, and has itself need to be enlightened in character...Satan rejoices when he succeeds in inspiring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikolai-berdyaev/our-attitude-towards-evil-must-be-freed-from-hatred-and-has-itself/) [Nikolai Berdyaev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikolai-berdyaev/) > [If you are the master be sometimes blind, if you are the servant be sometimes deaf.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-buckminster-fuller/if-you-are-the-master-be-sometimes-blind-if-you-are-the-servant-be/) [R. Buckminster Fuller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-buckminster-fuller/) > [I'm glad I'm blind and can't see it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stevie-wonder/i-m-glad-i-m-blind-and-can-t-see-it/) [Stevie Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stevie-wonder/) > [Shut your eyes and you will know what I mean by thought entombed in darkness. 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