Academy of Achievement interview (1991)
Context: Why do I see things differently from the way other people see them? Why do I pursue the questions that I pursue, even if others regard them as, as they say, "controversial?" Which merely means that they have a difference of opinion. They see things differently. I am interested both in nature, and in the human side of nature, and how the two can be brought together, and effectively used.
“As a child I was not interested in science. I was merely interested in things human, the human side of nature, if you like, and I continue to be interested in that. That's what motivates me.”
Academy of Achievement interview (1991)
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Jonas Salk 47
Inventor of polio vaccine 1914–1995Related quotes
Interview with Mark Shapiro (2000)
Live performance at the RNC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpHEB8K4n1w
Speech to the National Association of Broadcasters, May 9, 1961 (the Wasteland Speech)
What Are Masterpieces and Why Are There So Few of Them (1936), Afterword of a later edition
Short Drive, Sweet Chariot (1966)
Context: I am interested in madness. I believe it is the biggest thing in the human race, and the most constant. How do you take away from a man his madness without also taking away his identity? Are we sure it is desirable for a man's spirit not to be at war with itself, or that it is better to be serene and ready to go to dinner than to be excited and unwilling to stop for a cup of coffee, even?
Letter to Mary Todd Lincoln (17 August 1865).
1860s
The History of Gutta Percha Willie, the Working Genius (1873)
Context: !-- After a few days, Willie got tired of [the water-wheel] — and no blame to him, for it was no earthly use beyond amusement, and that which can only amuse can never amuse long. --> I think the reason children get tired of their toys so soon is just that it is against human nature to be really interested in what is of no use. If you say that a beautiful thing is always interesting, I answer, that a beautiful thing is of the highest use. Is not the diamond that flashes all its colours into the heart of a poet as useful as the diamond with which the glazier divides the sheets of glass into panes for our windows?