Date: 2010

"I still have my old paperback copy of Spenser's poem and just looking at it--the pages and pages of bewildering verse in tiny print, the demented little crib notes I've scribbled in the margins--can induce in me a sort of mental seasickness."

— Castle, Terry (b. 1953)

Date: April 18, 2011

"And so it goes, researchers say, with most study sessions: difficulty builds mental muscle, while ease often builds only confidence."

— Carey, Benedict (b. 1960)

Date: August 2012

"My father tried turning his thoughts into a substitute immune system."

— Roth, Marco (b. 1974)

Date: May 12, 2014

"Now a growing stream of research suggests that strengthening this mental muscle, usually with exercises in so-called mindfulness, may help children and adults cope with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and its adult equivalent, attention deficit disorder."

— Goleman, Daniel (b. 1946)

Date: May 7, 2014

"You learn to keep your mental body armor handy to protect against sudden attacks -- providing precious seconds to collect yourself and fight back."

— Armeni, Damon T.

Date: May 7, 2014

"This is the day I dream of, when the scars in my mind, like those on my body, will be nothing more than a reminder of darker days."

— Armeni, Damon T.

Date: May 7, 2014

"Americans must know that the scars from PTSD are very real and in many ways, more painful than the ones caused by bullets or shrapnel."

— Armeni, Damon T.

Date: December 20, 2014

"Further, just as the human stomach -- unlike the termite's -- can't digest wood, so there are some things our brains just aren't capable of knowing."

— Kaplan, Eric

Date: November 14, 2015

"The venerated political strategist David Axelrod once described a presidential campaign as 'an M.R.I. for the soul.'"

— Bruni, Frank (b. 1964)

Date: January 14, 2016

"Then there's the risible campaign commercial in which the Tailgunner dresses up in camo and face paint and hangs out in the blind with the Duck Dynasty crew, looking like a G.I. Joe who's lost his kung-fu grip on his senses."

— Pierce, Charles P. (b. 1953)