Leonard Mlodinow Quotations

Touch seems to be such an important tool for enhancing social cooperation and affiliation that we have evolved a special physical route along which those subliminal feelings of social connection travel from skin to brain.

I think the fun of following the movie box office and stocks is very similar to the fun of sports - all three combine passion and unpredictability.

The attacks on global warming are no different than the attacks the cigarettes companies used to use to say that cigarettes don't cause cancer.

By subliminal, I mean things that occur in our world that are below the threshold of consciousness but do have a psychological effect on us.

Intentionality and talent always matter. An extraordinary feat is certainly made more likely by someone's focus, hard work, etc. But chance also matters.

Scientists attach great importance to the human capacity for spoken language. But we also have a parallel track of nonverbal communication, which may reveal more than our carefully chosen words, and sometimes be at odds with them.

One of the ways we interact with other human beings and form social bonds is through touch, and probably most of us are not aware of the extreme importance of touch.

The truth is that our unconscious minds are active, purposeful, and independent. Hidden they may be, but their effects are anything but, for they play a critical role in shaping the way our conscious minds experience and respond to the world.

The pitch, timbre, volume, speed, and cadence of your voice, the speed with which you speak, and even the way you modulate pitch and loudness, are all hugely influential factors in how convincing you are and how people judge your state of mind and character.

Social connection is such a basic feature of human experience that when we are deprived of it, we suffer.