In the study of this membrane [the retina] I for the first time felt my faith in Darwinism (hypothesis of natural selection) weakened, being amazed and confounded by the supreme constructive ingenuity revealed not only in the retina and in the dioptric apparatus of the vertebrates but even in the meanest insect eye. ... I felt more profoundly than in… — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share
“What a wonderful stimulant it would be for the beginner if his instructor, instead of amazing and dismaying him with the sublimity… — Santiago Ramón y Cajal Copy Share Image
Our novice runs the risk of failure without additional traits: a strong inclination toward originality, a taste for research, and a desire… — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
Unfortunately, nature seems unaware of our intellectual need for convenience and unity, and very often takes delight in complication and diversity. — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
It is notorious that the desire to live increases as life itself shortens. — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
That which enters the mind through reason can be corrected. That which is admitted through faith, hardly ever. — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
“consider the possibility that any man could, if he were so inclined, be the sculptor of his own brain, and that even the least… — Santiago Ramón y Cajal Copy Share Image
I would be the last to deny that the greatest scientific pioneers belonged to an aristocracy of the spirit and were exceptionally intelligent, something that we as modest investigators will never attain, no matter how much we exert ourselves. Nevertheless ... I continue to believe that there is always room for anyone with average intelligence ... to utilize his energy… — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share
The worst part is not in making a mistake but in trying to justify it, instead of using it as a heaven-sent warning of… — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
“It is fair to say that, in general, no problems have been exhausted; instead, men have been exhausted by the problems” — Santiago Ramón y Cajal Copy Share Image
The brain is a world consisting of a number of unexplored continents and great stretches of unknown territory. — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
As long as our brain is a mystery, the universe, the reflection of the structure of the brain will also be a mystery. — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
Physical pain is easily forgotten, but a moral chagrin lasts indefinitely. — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
Intellectual beauty is sufficient unto itself, and only for it rather than for the future good of humanity does the scholar condemn himself to… — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
In adult centers the nerve paths are something fixed, ended, immutable. Everything may die, nothing may be regenerated. — Santiago Ramon y Cajal Copy Share Image
