# Quote — Jonah Lehrer, Proust Was a Neuroscientist

> The story of the brain's separation from the body begin with Rene Descartes. The most influential philosopher of the seventeenth century, Descartes divided being into two distinct substances: a holy soul and a mortal carcass. The soul was the source of reason, science, and everything nice. Our flesh, on the other hand, was "clock-like," just a machine that bleeds. With this schism, Descartes condemned the body to a life of subservience, a power plant for the brain's light bulbs.

- Author: [Jonah Lehrer](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonah-lehrer.md)
- Book: [Proust Was a Neuroscientist](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonah-lehrer/proust-was-a-neuroscientist.md)
- Page: 3
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonah_Lehrer#Proust_Was_a_Neuroscientist_(2007)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jonah-lehrer/proust-was-a-neuroscientist/the-story-of-the