Peter Medawar Mind Quotations

The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.

We cannot point to a single definitive solution of any one of the problems that confront us — political, economic, social or moral, that is, having to do with the conduct of life. We are still beginners, and for that reason may hope to improve. To deride the hope of progress is the ultimate fatuity, the last word in poverty of spirit and meanness of mind. There is no need to be dismayed by the fact that we cannot yet envisage a definitive solution of our problems, a resting-place beyond which we need not try to go.

All scientists know of colleagues whose minds are so well equipped with the means of refutation that no new idea has the temerity to seek admittance. Their contribution to science is accordingly very small.

The human mind treats a new idea the same way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it.

To deride the hope of progress is the ultimate fatuity, the last word in poverty of spirit and meanness of mind.