A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.
Albert Szent-GyorgyiRead
It is impossible to encircle the hips of a girl with my right arm and hold her smile in my left hand, then proceed to study the two items separately. Similarly, we can not separate life from living matter, in order to study only living matter and its reactions. Inevitably, studying living matter and its reactions, we study life itself
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the inseparable nature of life and the living matter it encompasses.
Albert Szent-Gyorgyi uses a metaphor to illustrate that life and the elements that constitute it are intertwined, much like the impossibility of studying a girl's smile and her hips as separate entities. This highlights the complexity of life, suggesting that to understand one must also understand the whole context in which it exists.
Themes
LifeLiving MatterStudyPhilosophyInterconnectedness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the complexities of life sciences.
More from Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
All quotes →Science has helped us to understand and master ourselves, creating an elevated new form of human life, the wealth and beauty of which cannot be pictured today by the keenest imagination.
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I called it ignose, not knowing which carbohydrate it was. This name was turned down by my editor. 'God-nose' was not more successful, so in the end 'hexuronic acid' was agreed upon. To-day the substance is called 'ascorbic acid' and I will use this name.
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The real scientist is ready to bear privation and, if need be, starvation rather than let anyone dictate to him which direction his work must take.
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Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.
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