I also suspect that many workers in this field [molecular biology] and related fields have been strongly motivated by the desire, rarely actually expressed, to refute vitalism.
FRANCIS CRICKThere is no scientific study more vital to man than the study of his own brain. Our entire view of the universe depends on it.
More Francis Crick Quotes
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Since I essentially knew nothing, I had an almost completely free choice.
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How is the base sequence, divided into codons? There is nothing in the backbone of the nucleic acid, which is perfectly regular, to show us how to group the bases into codons.
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Avoid the temptation to work so hard that there is no time left for serious thinking.
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My own prejudices are exactly the opposite of the functionalists’: “If you want to understand function, study structure”.
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It has yet to be shown by direct biochemical methods, as opposed to the indirect genetic evidence mentioned earlier, that the code is indeed a triplet code.
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Rather than believe that Watson and Crick made the DNA structure, I would rather stress that the structure made Watson and Crick.
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The dangerous man is the one who has only one idea, because then he’ll fight and die for it.
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Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved.
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Trying to determine the structure of a protein by UV spectroscopy was like trying to determine the structure of a piano by listening to the sound it made while being dropped down a flight of stairs.
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One of the most frightening things in the Western world, and in this country in particular, is the number of people who believe in things that are scientifically false. If someone tells me that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, in my opinion he should see a psychiatrist.
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You’re nothing but a pack of neurons.
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Again the message to experimentalists is: Be sensible but don’t be impressed too much by negative arguments. If at all possible, try it and see what turns up. Theorists almost always dislike this sort of approach.
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Christianity may be OK between consenting adults in private but should not be taught to young children.
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A busy life is a wasted life.
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Exploratory research is really like working in a fog. You don’t know where you’re going. You’re just groping. Then people learn about it afterwards and think how straightforward it was.
FRANCIS CRICK