Babies did not attract me, and I was altogether without the maternal sense so highly developed in small and adolescent girls.

I told Mother of my decision to study medicine. She encouraged me to speak to Father... I began in a roundabout way... He listened, looking at me with that serious and penetrating gaze of his that caused me such trepidation, and asked whether I knew what I wanted to do.

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.

Babies did not attract me, and I was altogether without the maternal sense so highly developed in small and adolescent girls.

Find first peace within yourself. Don't eat too much. Keep your brain active. Love.

The instruments, glassware, and chemical reagents necessary for my project were the same as my 19th-century predecessors had.

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.