It is idle to dispute with old men. Their opinions, like their cranial sutures, are ossified.
Santiago Ramon y CajalIntellectual beauty is sufficient unto itself, and only for it rather than for the future good of humanity does the scholar condemn himself to arduous and painful labors.
Santiago Ramon y CajalIn my own view, some advice about what should be known, about what technical education should be acquired, about the intense motivation needed to succeed, and about the carelessness and inclination toward bias that must be avoided is far more useful than all the rules and warnings of theoretical logic.
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 CajalIf a solution fails to appear ... and yet we feel success is just around the corner, try resting for a while. ... Like the early morning frost, this intellectual refreshment withers the parasitic and nasty vegetation that smothers the good seed. Bursting forth at last is the flower of truth.
Santiago Ramon y CajalHeroes and scholars represent the opposite extremes... The scholar struggles for the benefit of all humanity, sometimes to reduce physical effort, sometimes to reduce pain, and sometimes to postpone death, or at least render it more bearable. In contrast, the patriot sacrifices a rather substantial part of humanity for the sake of his own prestige. His statue is always erected on a pedestal of ruins and corpses... In contrast, all humanity crowns a scholar, love forms the pedestal of his statues, and his triumphs defy the desecration of time and the judgment of history.
Santiago Ramon y Cajal