“A stimulus is a stimulus. The body doesn't give a damn about the meaning of the stimulus. Whether minnows or communion, the sebaceous glands stand up erect.”

“People think that an expensive car--a stimulus--will lead to a response of happiness. If they have a great paying job--the proper stimulus, they believe--then their response will be happiness.But what if the opposite is true? What if happiness is the stimulus and the response is whatever life brings from that happiness?”

“The basic stimulus to the intelligence is doubt, a feeling that the meaning of an experience is not self-evident.”

“The word book acted as a transient stimulus”

“...there is no brew so deadly that it cannot at certain moments become precious and invigorating by giving us just the stimulus that was necessary, the warmth that we cannot generate ourselves.”

“A democratic civilization will save itself only if it makes the language of the image into a stimulus for critical reflection — not an invitation for hypnosis.”