Rita Levi-Montalcini

If I had not been discriminated against or had not suffered persecution, I would never have received the Nobel Prize.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

After centuries of dormancy, young women... can now look toward a future moulded by their own hands.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

Find first peace within yourself. Don't eat too much. Keep your brain active. Love.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

Babies did not attract me, and I was altogether without the maternal sense so highly developed in small and adolescent girls.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

The instruments, glassware, and chemical reagents necessary for my project were the same as my 19th-century predecessors had.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

At 100, I have a mind that is superior - thanks to experience- than when i was 20.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

If I die tomorrow or in a year, it is the same — it is the message you leave behind you that counts.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

My life has been enriched by excellent human relations, work and interests. I have never felt lonely.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

As for the presence of large NGF [nerve growth factor] sources in snake venom and male genital organs, they may be conceived…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

Progress depends on our brain. The most important part of our brain, that which is neocortical, must be used to help others…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

I say to the young, be happy that you were born in Italy because of the beauty of the human capital, both…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

I should thank Mussolini for having declared me to be of an inferior race. This led me to the joy of working,…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

I tell young people: Do not think of yourself, think of others. Think of the future that awaits you, think about what…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

You've been thinking about something without willing to for a long time...Then, all of a sudden, the problem is opened to you…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

My experience in childhood and adolescence of the subordinate role played by the female in a society run entirely by men had…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

A child from the age of 2 or 3 absorbs what is in the environment and what generates hatred for anyone perceived…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

At 20, I realized that I could not possibly adjust to a feminine role as conceived by my father and asked him…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

“[ Biographical info on Rita ] Born and raised in a Sephardic Jewish family in which culture and love of learning were…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

It is imperfection - not perfection - that is the end result of the program written into that formidably complex engine that…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

I told Mother of my decision to study medicine. She encouraged me to speak to Father... I began in a roundabout way...…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

The four of us enjoyed a most wonderful family atmosphere filled with love and reciprocal devotion. Both parents were highly cultured and…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

After a short period spent in Brussels as a guest of a neurological institute, I returned to Turin on the verge of…

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

It's not enough what I did in the past - there is also the future.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

The body does whatever it wants. I am not my body; I am my mind.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

The process for awarding Nobel prizes is so complex that it cannot be corrupted.

— Rita Levi-Montalcini

Above all, don’t fear difficult moments. The best comes from them

— Rita Levi-Montalcini