Quotes from Rita Levi-Montalcini

If I had not been discriminated against or had not suffered persecution, I would never have received the Nobel Prize.

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

Above all, don't fear difficult moments. The best comes from them

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.

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.

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.

Biographical info on Rita ] Born and raised in a Sephardic Jewish family in which culture and love of learning were categorical imperatives, she abandoned religion and embraced atheism. She devoted herself to Science, getting to the point of renouncing marriage for scientific research. ...Unlike other people, Rita Levi Montalcini was a complete human being.

Tutti dicono che il cervello sia l'organo più complesso del corpo umano, da medico potrei anche acconsentire. Ma come donna vi assicuro che non vi è niente di più complesso del cuore, ancora oggi non si conoscono i suoi meccanismi. Nei ragionamenti del cervello c'è logica, nei ragionamenti del cuore ci sono le emozioni.

Le donne che hanno cambiato il mondo non hanno mai sentito il bisogno di mostrare nulla se non la loro intelligenza

Il corpo faccia quello che vuole, io sono la mente.

The body does whatever it wants. I am not my body; I am my mind.

Above all, don't fear difficult moments. The best comes from them

I do not boast the historical fact of belonging to a human race that has suffered a lot as some kind of medal, nor have I ever tried to derive moral advantages or reparations.

As for the presence of large NGF [nerve growth factor] sources in snake venom and male genital organs, they may be conceived as instances of bizarre evolutionary gene expression.

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.

My life has been enriched by excellent human relations, work and interests. I have never felt lonely.

The process for awarding Nobel prizes is so complex that it cannot be corrupted.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

I say to the young, be happy that you were born in Italy because of the beauty of the human capital, both masculine and feminine, of this country... No other country has such human capital.

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.