Arthur Kornberg Quotes

#1. The pursuit of curiosity about the basic facts of nature has proven, with few exceptions throughout the history of medical science, to be the route by which the successful drugs and devices of modern medicine were discovered.

Arthur Kornberg

#2. Men do not mirror themselves in running water; they mirror themselves in still water.

Bill Vaughan

#3. As in biomedical science, pioneering industrial inventions have not been mothered by necessity. Rather, inventions for which there was no commercial use only later became the commercial airplanes, xerography and lasers on which modern society depends.

Arthur Kornberg

#4. I told my three sons stories about germs more than fifty years ago as fanciful bedtime tales.

Arthur Kornberg

#5. I feel now, as we did then, that for an effective approach to the problem of nucleic acid biosynthesis, it was essential to understand the biosynthesis of the simple nucleotides and the coenzymes and to have these concepts and methodology well in hand.

Arthur Kornberg

#6. Unfortunately, upsetting the balance of nature just happens to be what our species has been selected to do well- although we hate admit it. Like the Walrus in Lewis Carroll's poem, we shed hypocritical tears over the diminishing supply of oysters, while gulping them down as quickly as ever.

Christopher Wills

#7. Economists state their GNP growth projections to the nearest tenth of a percentage point to prove they have a sense of humor.

Edgar Fiedler

#8. Perhaps that wasn't the brightest parenting decision that I've made in the last ten years." -- (From TRADING MANNY, on letting my 7-year old son emulate Manny Ramirez)

Jim Gullo

#9. No matter how counter-intuitive it may seem, basic research has proven over and over to be the lifeline of practical advances in medicine.

Arthur Kornberg

#10. Half of what we know is wrong, the purpose of science is to determine which half.

Arthur Kornberg

#11. Thou shalt not believe something just because you can explain it.

Arthur Kornberg

#12. Analysis of the composition of samples of DNA from a great variety of sources and by many investigators revealed the remarkable fact that the purine content always equals the pyrimidine content.

Arthur Kornberg

#13. Nothing worthwhile is ever fun.

Arthur Kornberg

#14. Without advances, medicine regresses and reverts to witchcraft.

Arthur Kornberg

#15. According to physical measurements, DNA chains are, on the average, 10,000 units long.

Arthur Kornberg

#16. To crush fear doesn't mean you eliminate it; crushing fear means you literally crush it down into smaller, more manageable parts and tackle one piece at a time.

Richie Norton

#17. DNA, like a tape recording, carries a message in which there are specific instructions for a job to be done.

Arthur Kornberg