James D. Watson Professions : Molecular Biologist Born : April 6, 1928 Browse All Authors Top 78 quotes by James D. Watson The brain is the last and grandest biological frontier, the most complex thing we have yet discovered in our universe. It contains hundreds of billions of cells interlinked through trillions of connections. The brain boggles the mind. James D. Watson cells mind brain Knowing "why" (an idea) is more important than learning "what" (the fact). James D. Watson important knowing ideas Today, the theory of evolution is an accepted fact for everyone but a fundamentalist minority, whose objections are based not on reasoning but on doctrinaire adherence to religious principles. James D. Watson theory-of-evolution religious science Remember, grab you're future with both hands and mold it into what you want it to be. It's the determined, who create the life they want, while the idle sit by and watch it fade away into nothingness. The future belongs to the exceptional individuals, who can see the light of the future, at the end of the tunnel. James D. Watson tunnels motivational hands Do things as soon as you can. If a decision needs to be made, make it. It gives you more time to change your mind. James D. Watson decision mind giving We're not all equal, it's simply not true. That isn't science. James D. Watson equal It's necessary to be slightly underemployed if you are to do something significant. James D. Watson underemployed significant life-and-love Never be the brightest person in the room. James D. Watson persons rooms One of the greatest gifts science has brought to the world is continuing elimination of the supernatural, and it was a lesson that my father passed on to me, that knowledge liberates mankind from superstition. We can live our lives without the constant fear that we have offended this or that deity who must be placated by incantation or sacrifice, or that we are at the mercy of devils or the Fates. With increasing knowledge, the intellectual darkness that surrounds us is illuminated and we learn more of the beauty and wonder of the natural world. James D. Watson fate sacrifice father No one may have the guts to say this, but if we could make better human beings by knowing how to add genes, why shouldn't we? James D. Watson knowing may add There is no firm reason to anticipate that the intellectual capacities of peoples geographically separated in their evolution should prove to have evolved identically. Our wanting to reserve equal powers of reason as some universal heritage of humanity will not be enough to make it so. James D. Watson heritage intellectual humanity Our goal should be to understand our differences. James D. Watson differences goal should Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you're not going to hire them. James D. Watson fats interviews people There is only one science, physics: everything else is social work. James D. Watson social-work physics social Science moves with the spirit of an adventure characterized both by youthful arrogance and by the belief that the truth, once found, would be simple as well as pretty. James D. Watson adventure travel moving A clone of Einstein wouldn't be stupid, but he wouldn't necessarily be any genius, either. James D. Watson genius stupid I never dreamed that in my lifetime my own genome would be sequenced. James D. Watson my-own lifetime would-be The way to do great science is to stay away from subjects that are overpopulated, and go to the frontiers. James D. Watson great-science subjects way I turned against the left wing because they don't like genetics, because genetics implies that sometimes in life we fail because we have bad genes. They want all failure in life to be due to the evil system. James D. Watson evil want wings At lunch Francis [Crick] winged into the Eagle to tell everyone within hearing distance that we had found the secret of life. James D. Watson distance discovery science Similar Authors Bonnie Bassler molecular-biologist Joshua Lederberg molecular-biologist Joseph DeRisi molecular-biologist John Medina molecular-biologist John Cairns molecular-biologist Shirley M. Tilghman molecular-biologist All Authors
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