Rita Levi-Montalcini quotes

Rita Levi-Montalcini was an Italian neurologist and Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine. Her groundbreaking research led to the discovery of nerve growth factor, a fundamental advance in neuroscience. She became an inspiration for women in science and continued her work well into her later years. Here are 31 of her quotes:

It is imperfection - not perfection - that is the end result of the program written into that formidably complex engine that is the human brain, and of the influences exerted upon us by the environment and whoever takes care of us during the long years of our physical, psychological and intellectual development. (Rita Levi-Montalcini)
Better to add life to your days than days to your life. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
At 100, I have a mind that is superior - thanks to experience - than when I was 20. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
After centuries of dormancy, young women can now look toward a future moulded by their own hands. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
I'm an atheist: I don't know what it means to believe in God. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Everything came easy to me in life. I could always shake off difficulties, like water on a duck's wings. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
I have lost a bit of my sight, much of my hearing. At conferences, I can't see the presentations and can't hear well. But I think more now than when I when I was twenty. The body can do whatever it likes. I am not the body: I am the mind. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
At 20, I realized that I could not possibly adjust to a feminine role as conceived by my father and asked him permission to engage in a professional career. In eight months I filled my gaps in Latin, Greek and mathematics, graduated from high school, and entered medical school in Turin. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Progress depends on our brain. The most important part of our brain, that which is neocortical, must be used to help others and not just to make discoveries. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Above all, don't fear difficult moments. The best comes from them. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
The women who changed the world never needed to show anything other than their own intelligence. (Rita Levi-Montalcini)
Rare are those people who use the mind, few use the heart and really unique are those who use both. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
I never had any hesitation or regrets in this sense. My life has been enriched by excellent human relations, work and interests. I have never felt lonely. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
She seemed able to face with equal equanimity the rigours of fascist cruelty and suppression that she was dealt as a Jew; the problems of practising underground medicine in wartime; the difficulties posed by prejudice and discrimination against women; and the near isolation and challenges of those working at the cutting edge of science. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
The allegations against Fidia cannot be true. The process for awarding Nobel prizes is so complex that it cannot be corrupted. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
She had this feeling for what was happening biologically. She was an intuitive observer, and she saw that something was making these nerve connections grow and was determined to find out what it was. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
In life one should never give in, surrender oneself to mediocrity, but rather move out of that grey area where everything is habit and passive resignation. One has to grow the courage to rebel. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Man is ruined by servility, conformism, obsequiousness, rather than aggressiveness, which is much more common in the environment than within ourselves. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
I tell young people: Do not think of yourself, think of others. Think of the future that awaits you, think about what you can do and do not fear anything. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
The four of us enjoyed a most wonderful family atmosphere filled with love and reciprocal devotion. Both parents were highly cultured and instilled in us their high appreciation of intellectual pursuit. It was, however, a typical Victorian style of life, all decisions being taken by the head of the family, the husband and father. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
My life has been enriched by excellent human relations, work and interests. I have never felt lonely. (Rita Levi-Montalcini)
My experience in childhood and adolescence of the subordinate role played by the female in a society run entirely by men had convinced me that I was not cut out to be a wife. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
A child from the age of 2 or 3 absorbs what is in the environment and what generates hatred for anyone perceived to be different. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
I should thank Mussolini for having declared me to be of an inferior race. This led me to the joy of working, not any more, unfortunately, in university institutes but in a bedroom. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini
If I had not been discriminated against or had not suffered persecution, I would never have received the Nobel Prize. View quote
Rita Levi-Montalcini