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Jonas Salk Quotes

1914–1995 United States

Jonas Edward Salk (October 28 1914 – June 23 1995) was a medical researcher and author, the inventor of the Salk vaccine against Polio, and the founder of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

United States
Non-fiction authors
Philosophers
Physicians
Virologists

Also known as: Jonas Zalk, Salk, Jonas

Random Jonas Salk quote

28 quotes

I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.

It is courage based on confidence, not daring, and it is confidence based on experience.

I couldn't possibly have become a member of this institute if I hadn't founded it myself.

I am interested in a phase that I think we are entering. I call it "teleological evolution," evolution with a purpose.

Academy of Achievement interview (1991)

Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors.

Learning from the Future : Competitive Foresight Scenarios (1998)

Neither wisdom nor good will is now dominant. Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.

There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?

That's how we continue on, and will improve our lot in life, solve the problems that arise. Partly out of necessity, partly out of this drive to improve.

Academy of Achievement interview (1991)

It is said to await certainty is to await eternity.

I speak about universal evolution and teleological evolution, because I think the process of evolution reflects the wisdom of nature.

Academy of Achievement interview (1991)

I think of evolution as an error-making and error-correcting process, and we are constantly learning from experience.

Academy of Achievement interview (1991)

I have dreams, and I have nightmares. I overcame the nightmares because of my dreams.

Wisdom for the Soul: Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006)

When things get bad enough, then something happens to correct the course.

The Open Mind interview (1985)

I am interested both in nature, and in the human side of nature, and how the two can be brought together, and effectively used.

Academy of Achievement interview (1991)

My attitude was always to keep open, to keep scanning. I think that's how things work in nature. Many people are close-minded, rigid, and that's not my inclination.

Academy of Achievement interview (1991)

Edward R. Murrow: Who owns the patent on this vaccine?
Jonas Salk: Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?

I judge things from an evolutionary perspective — "How does this serve and contribute to the process of our own evolution?" — rather than think of good and evil in moral terms. I see the triumph of good over evil as a manifestation of the error-correcting process of evolution.

Academy of Achievement interview (1991)

Now at the moment the world is suffering from large numbers of people who have no purpose in life — for whom there is no opportunity — and that's sad.

The Open Mind interview (1985)

I look upon ourselves as partners in all of this, and that each of us contributes and does what he can do best.

The Open Mind interview (1985)

I have the impression that the new generation of young people, are coming up on the scene with a sense "ancestorhood", and with more wisdom than was evident before.

The Open Mind interview (1985)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Jonas Salk (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.