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Santiago Ramon y Cajal Books

Pathologist

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“If a photographic plate under the center of a lens focused on the heavens is exposed for hours, it comes to reveal stars so far away that even the most powerful telescopes fail to reveal them to the naked eye. In a similar way, time and concentration allow the intellect to perceive a ray of light in the darkness of the most complex problem.”

IfsWayProblemLightEyeScienceHeavenStarsHoursPowerfulDarknessFailingComplexesIntellectFocusedNakedPerceiveConcentrationMost PowerfulRaysExposedFar AwayPlatesLensesTelescopesDarkness To LightRays Of LightComplex ProblemsNaked Eyes
Book:Advice for a Young Investigator
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“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 and ... any man could, if he were so inclined, be the sculptor of his own brain, and that even the least gifted may, like the poorest land that has been well-cultivated and fertilized, produce an abundant harvest.”

IfsMenBelieveWellsMayHas BeensMatterWould BeLastsSpiritBeliefEnergyRoomsBrainLandProduceIntelligentAverageIntelligenceDenyNeverthelessGiftedModestHarvestExceptionalAttainmentPioneersPoorestAristocracySculptorsExertionInvestigators
Author:Santiago Ramon y Cajal
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“If a solution fails to appear ... and yet we feel success is just around the corner, try resting for a while. ... Like the early morning frost, this intellectual refreshment withers the parasitic and nasty vegetation that smothers the good seed. Bursting forth at last is the flower of truth.”

IfsFeelsTryingLastsMorningFailingFlowerIntellectualSolutionsCornersSeedsNastyFrostAround The CornerBurstingEarly MorningRefreshmentsVegetation
Book:Advice for a Young Investigator
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“Heroes and scholars represent the opposite extremes... The scholar struggles for the benefit of all humanity, sometimes to reduce physical effort, sometimes to reduce pain, and sometimes to postpone death, or at least render it more bearable. In contrast, the patriot sacrifices a rather substantial part of humanity for the sake of his own prestige. His statue is always erected on a pedestal of ruins and corpses... In contrast, all humanity crowns a scholar, love forms the pedestal of his statues, and his triumphs defy the desecration of time and the judgment of history.”

SometimesPainFormHumanityEffortHistoryStruggleSacrificeHeroBenefitsJudgmentOppositesSakeExtremesRuinsTriumphContrastScholarCrownsPatriotStatuesCorpsesPrestigePedestalBearable
Author:Santiago Ramon y Cajal
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“In my own view, some advice about what should be known, about what technical education should be acquired, about the intense motivation needed to succeed, and about the carelessness and inclination toward bias that must be avoided is far more useful than all the rules and warnings of theoretical logic.”

ShouldScienceMotivationMy OwnViewsKnownKnowledgeAdviceNeededSucceedLogicIntenseWarningBiasInclinationAvoidedTheoreticalAcquisitionCarelessnessTechnical Education
Author:Santiago Ramon y Cajal
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“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 any other subject of study the shuddering sensation of the unfathomable mystery of life.”

FirstsEyeScienceFeltNaturalStudyMysterySubjectsResearchFirst TimeSupremeSensationsAmazedHypothesisSelectionInsectsConstructiveIngenuityNatural SelectionDarwinismUnfathomableMystery Of LifeMembranesShudderingVertebrates
Book:Recollections of My Life
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“Even granting that the genius subjected to the test of critical inspection emerges free from all error, we should consider that everything he has discovered in a given domain is almost nothing in comparison with what is left to be discovered.”

ShouldLeftGivenGeniusDiscoveryTestsErrorsCriticalComparisonDomainInspection
Book:Precepts and counsels on scientific investigation: stimulants of the spirit
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