Rita Levi-Montalcini Quotes

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

At 100, I have a mind that is superior - thanks to experience - than when I was 20.

It's not enough what I did in the past - there is also the future.

If I die tomorrow or in a year, it is the same — it is the message you leave behind you that counts.

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

You've been thinking about something without willing to for a long time...Then, all of a sudden, the problem is opened to you in a flash and you suddenly see the answer.

A child from the age of 2 or 3 absorbs what is in the environment and what generates hatred for anyone perceived to be different.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

After centuries of dormancy, young women... can now look toward a future moulded by their own hands.

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