Alexander Fleming

The unprepared mind cannot see the outstretched hand of opportunity.

— Alexander Fleming

(The discovery of penicillin) was a triumph of accident, a fortunate occurrence which happened while I was working on a purely academic…

— Alexander Fleming

I have been trying to point out that in our lives chance may have an astonishing influence and, if I may offer…

— Alexander Fleming

I have been trying to point out that in our lives chance may have an astonishing influence and, if I may offer…

— Alexander Fleming

One sometimes finds what one is not looking for.

— Alexander Fleming

If penicillin can cure those that are ill, Spanish sherry can bring the dead back to life.

— Alexander Fleming

I play with microbes. There are, of course, many rules to this play...but when you have acquired knowledge and experience it is…

— Alexander Fleming

It is the lone worker who makes the first advance in a subject; the details may be worked out by a team,…

— Alexander Fleming

In my first publication I might have claimed that I had come to the conclusion, as a result of serious study of…

— Alexander Fleming

For the birth of something new, there has to be a happening. Newton saw an apple fall; James Watt watched a kettle…

— Alexander Fleming

Suggested remedy for the common cold: A good gulp of whiskey at bedtime-it's not very scientific, but it helps.

— Alexander Fleming

It has been demonstrated that a species of penicillium produces in culture a very powerful antibacterial substance which affects different bacteria in…

— Alexander Fleming

Nature makes penicillin; I just found it.

— Alexander Fleming

Penicillin cures, but wine makes people happy.

— Alexander Fleming

It is not difficult to make microbes resistant to penicillin in the laboratory by exposing them to concentrations not sufficient to kill…

— Alexander Fleming

One sometimes finds what one is not looking for. When I woke up just after dawn on Sept. 28, 1928, I certainly…

— Alexander Fleming

It was astonishing that for some considerable distance around the mould growth the staphococcal colonies were undergoing lysis. What had formerly been…

— Alexander Fleming

Penicillin sat on a shelf for ten years while I was called a quack.

— Alexander Fleming