Unfortunately, nature seems unaware of our intellectual need for convenience and unity, and very often takes delight in complication and diversity.
Santiago Ramon y CajalIt is idle to dispute with old men. Their opinions, like their cranial sutures, are ossified.
Santiago Ramon y CajalIntellectual work is an act of creation. It is as if the mental image that is studied over a period of time were to sprout appendages like an amebaโoutgrowths that extend in all directions while avoiding one obstacle after anotherโbefore interdigitating with related ideas.
Santiago Ramon y CajalIn the study of this membrane [the retina] I for the first time felt my faith in Darwinism (hypothesis of natural selection) weakened, being amazed and confounded by the supreme constructive ingenuity revealed not only in the retina and in the dioptric apparatus of the vertebrates but even in the meanest insect eye. ... I felt more profoundly than in any other subject of study the shuddering sensation of the unfathomable mystery of life.
Santiago Ramon y Cajal