Quotes from The Double Helix

James D. Watson ·  143 pages

Rating: (13.9K votes)


“One could not be a successful scientist without realizing that , in contrast to the popular conception supported by newspapers and mothers of scientists, a goodly number of scientists are not only narrow-minded and dull, but also just stupid.”
― James D. Watson, quote from The Double Helix


“In the end, though, science is what matters; scientists not a bit.”
― James D. Watson, quote from The Double Helix


“On the other hand, the sun of Naples might be conducive to learning something about the biochemistry of the embryonic development of marine animals.”
― James D. Watson, quote from The Double Helix


“​Briefly, the Indiana biochemists encouraged me to learn organic chemistry, but after I used a bunsen burner to warm up some benzene, I was relieved from further true chemistry. It was safer to turn out an uneducated Ph.D. than to risk another explosion.”
― James D. Watson, quote from The Double Helix


“Al Hershey had sent me a long letter from Cold Spring Harbor summarizing the recently completed experiments by which he and Martha Chase established that a key feature of the infection of a bacterium by a phage was the injection of the viral DNA into the host bacterium. Most important, very little protein entered the bacterium. Their experiment was thus a powerful new proof that DNA is the primary genetic material. Nonetheless, almost no one in the audience of over four hundred microbiologists seemed interested as I read long sections of Hershey’s letter. Obvious exceptions were André Lwoff, Seymour Benzer, and Gunther Stent, all briefly over from Paris. They knew that Hershey’s experiments were not trivial and that from then on everyone was going to place more emphasis on DNA. To most of the spectators, however, Hershey’s name carried no weight.”
― James D. Watson, quote from The Double Helix



“Worrying about complications before ruling out the possibility that the answer was simple would have been damned foolishness.”
― James D. Watson, quote from The Double Helix


About the author

James D. Watson
Born place: in Chicago, The United States
Born date April 6, 1928
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Mom says,'What are you going to do when it's time to go to college?' I choose not to think about that yet. That is years away. For now, I just watn things all safe and familiar. My life may not be perfect, but it is what I have known.
~pg 16; Hattie on change”
― Ann M. Martin, quote from A Corner of the Universe


“There’s no guarantee that all will be perfect but the hope for another day keeps us going.”
― Shikha Kaul, quote from Hidden Husband


“Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” 43And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in †Paradise.”
― quote from Holy Bible, New King James Version


“God loves us, after all; He manifests it in cancer, cholera, Siamese twins. Not all forms of love are comprehensible, and some forms of love destroy what they touch”
― Hilary Mantel, quote from Fludd


“If we are cruel to another, we will be cruel to ourselves. If we can't appreciate those around us, we won't appreciate ourselves. With every person we engage, in everything we do, we must be kinder than expected, more generous than anticipated, more positive than we thought possible. Every moment in front of another human being is an opportunity to express our highest values and to influence someone with our humanity. We can make the world better, one person at a time.”
― Robin S. Sharma, quote from The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari


Interesting books

Roses are Red
(49.3K)
Roses are Red
by James Patterson
Lady Audley's Secret
(16.7K)
Lady Audley's Secret
by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Blameless
(30.7K)
Blameless
by Gail Carriger
Boys Don't Cry
(6.8K)
Boys Don't Cry
by Malorie Blackman
The Minds of Billy Milligan
(10.2K)
The Minds of Billy M...
by Daniel Keyes
The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates
(26K)
The Other Wes Moore:...
by Wes Moore

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.