107 Quotes by Robert Sapolsky

As I became more interested in behavior from the standpoint of neurobiology, the stress-response became really interesting. What stress physiology is about is - when there is a new environmental challenge, how does an individual adapt? It seemed like a natural transition.

Yes, genes are important for understanding our behavior. Incredibly important - after all, they code for every protein pertinent to brain function, endocrinology, etc., etc. But the regulation of genes is often more interesting than the genes themselves, and it's the environment that regulates genes.

Primates are super smart and organized just enough to devote their free time to being miserable to each other and stressing each other out.

If you're a gazelle, you don't have a very complex emotional life, despite being a social species. But primates are just smart enough that they can think their bodies into working differently. It's not until you get to primates that you get things that look like depression.

At its worst, there's just virtually no organ system in your body that's not thrown out of kilter in some way by chronic psychological stress.

What adolescence is about is by trial and error, honing a frontal cortex that is going to be more optimal by the time you're 25.

Show me one neuron that has some cellular semblance of free will. And there is no such neuron.

Depression is incredibly pervasive and thus important to talk about.