Quotes from Alexis Carrel

The best way of increasing the [average] intelligence of scientists would be to reduce their number.

Intuition comes very close to clairvoyance; it appears to be the extrasensory perception of reality.

The love of beauty in its multiple forms is the noblest gift of the human cerebrum.

Everyone makes a greater effort to hurt other people than to help himself.

A few observation and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.

The atmosphere of libraries, lecture rooms and laboratories is dangerous to those who shut themselves up in them too long. It separates us from reality like a fog.

A few observations and much reasoning lead to error; many observations and a little reasoning to truth.

Science has to be understood in its broadest sense, as a method for apprehending all observable reality, and not merely as an instrument for acquiring specialized knowledge.

In man, the things which are not measurable are more important than those which are measurable.

...the influence of the factory upon the physiological and mental state of the workers has been completely neglected.

Men grow when inspired by a high purpose, when contemplating vast horizons. The sacrifice of oneself is not very difficult for one burning with the passion for a great adventure.

It is faith, and not reason, which impels men to action... Intelligence is content to point out the road, but never drives us along it.

All great men are gifted with intuition. They know without reasoning or analysis, what they need to know.

Logic never attracts men to the point of carrying them away.

Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor.

Gigantic sums are now required to maintain prisons and insane asylums and protect the public against gangsters and lunatics. Why do we preserve these useless and harmful beings? The abnormal prevent development of the normal.

...in recognition of his work on vascular suture and the transplantation of blood-vessels and organs.

All of us, at certain moments of our lives, need to take advice and to receive help from other people.

To accomplish our destiny it is not enough to merely guard prudently against road accidents. We must also cover before nightfall the distance assigned to each of us.