"We learn what something is not — and that is as important as a positive discovery to the man who is going to pick up from there. At least he knows what not to do."

“No one really starts anything new, Mrs Nemur. Everyone builds on other men's failures. There is nothing really original in science. What each man contributes to the sum of knowledge is what counts.”

“I've got to grow up. For me it means everything...”

“There are a lot of people who will give money or materials, but very few who will give time and affection.”

“Don't misunderstand me," I said. "Intelligence is one of the greatest human gifts. But all too often a search for knowledge drives out the search for love. This is something else I've discovered for myself very recently. I present it to you as a hypothesis: Intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown, to neurosis, and possibly even psychosis. And I say that the mind absorbed in and involved in itself as a self-centered end, to the exclusion of human relationships, can only lead to violence and pain.”

“Even a feeble-minded man wants to be like other men.”

“You don't know what it's like to have something happening inside you, that you can't see and can't control, and know it's all slipping through your fingers.”