The mental never influences the physical. It is always the physical that modifies the mental, and when we think that the mind is diseased, it is always an illusion. Claude Bernard More Quotes by Claude Bernard More Quotes From Claude Bernard I do not ... reject the use of statistics in medicine, but I condemn not trying to get beyond them and believing in statistics as the foundation of medical science. ... Statistics ... apply only to cases in which the cause of the facts observed is still [uncertain or] indeterminate. ... There will always be some indeterminism ... in all the sciences, and more in medicine than in any other. But man's intellectual conquest consists in lessening and driving back indeterminism in proportion as he gains ground for determinism by the help of the experimental method. Claude Bernard men science believe True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain. Claude Bernard ignorance doubt science The first requirement in using statistics is that the facts treated shall be reduced to comparable units. Claude Bernard requirements statistics science We must alter theory to adapt it to nature, but not nature to adapt it to theory. Claude Bernard nature natural science The investigator should have a robust faith - and yet not believe. Claude Bernard belief should-have believe The goal of scientific physicians in their own science ... is to reduce the indeterminate. Statistics therefore apply only to cases in which the cause of the facts observed is still indeterminate. Claude Bernard physicians goal science The better educated we are and the more acquired information we have, the better prepared shall we find our minds for making great and fruitful discoveries. Claude Bernard mind discovery science Men who believe too firmly in their theories, do not believe enough in the theories of others. So ... these despisers of their fellows ... make experiments only to destroy a theory, instead of to seek the truth. Claude Bernard men science believe Feeling alone guides the mind. Claude Bernard feeling-alone passion feelings The fact that knowledge endlessly recedes as the investigator is about to grasp it is what constitutes at the same time his torment and happiness. Claude Bernard investigators torment facts Our ideas are only intellectual instruments which we use to break into phenomena; we must change them when they have served their purpose, as we change a blunt lancet that we have used long enough. Claude Bernard intellectual long ideas Mediocre men often have the most acquired knowledge Claude Bernard mediocrity mediocre men The stability of the internal medium is a primary condition for the freedom and independence of certain living bodies in relation to the environment surrounding them. Claude Bernard independence environment body Effects vary with the conditions which bring them to pass, but laws do not vary. Physiological and pathological states are ruled by the same forces; they differ only because of the special conditions under which the vital laws manifest themselves. Claude Bernard special law science Tout est poison, rien n'est poison, tout est une question de dose. Everything is poisonous, nothing is poisonous, it is all a matter of dose. Claude Bernard drug poison matter We must remain, in a word, in an intellectual disposition which seems paradoxical, but which, in my opinion, represents the true mind of the investigator. We must have a robust faith and yet not believe. Claude Bernard faith science believe In teaching man, experimental science results in lessening his pride more and more by proving to him every day that primary causes, like the objective reality of things, will be hidden from him forever and that he can only know relations. Claude Bernard pride teaching reality [Those] who have an excessive faith in their theories or in their ideas are not only poorly disposed to make discoveries, but they also make very poor observations. Claude Bernard discovery science ideas The joy of discovery is certainly the liveliest that the mind of man can ever feel. Claude Bernard discovery men science In the philosophic sense, observation shows and experiment teaches. Claude Bernard observation teach science
