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 BernardRead
Now, a living organism is nothing but a wonderful machine endowed with the most marvellous properties and set going by means of the most complex and delicate mechanism.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Living organisms are intricate machines with remarkable abilities driven by complex mechanisms.
In this quote, Claude Bernard emphasizes the extraordinary nature of living organisms, likening them to machines but highlighting their complexity and the delicate systems that enable life. This perspective reflects the intricate arrangements of biological systems and the sophistication of life itself, challenging us to appreciate the marvels of nature and biology.
Themes
OrganismMachineComplexityBiologyMechanism
In practice
Example use cases
In a biology class discussing the nature of life and living systems.
More from Claude Bernard
All quotes βWhen a physician is called to a patient, he should decide on the diagnosis, then the prognosis, and then the treatment. ... Physicians must know the evolution of the disease, its duration and gravity in order to predict its course and outcome. Here statistics intervene to guide physicians, by teaching them the proportion of mortal cases, and if observation has also shown that the successful and unsuccessful cases can be recognized by certain signs, then the prognosis is more certain.
Claude BernardRead
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 BernardRead
Theories are like a stairway; by climbing, science widens its horizon more and more, because theories embody and necessarily include proportionately more facts as they advance.
Claude BernardRead
True science teaches us to doubt and, in ignorance, to refrain.
Claude BernardRead
The experimenter who does not know what he is looking for will not understand what he finds.
Claude BernardRead
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