Martinus Beijerinck quotes

In its most primitive form, life is, therefore, no longer bound to the cell, the cell which possesses structure and which can be compared to a complex wheel-work, such as a watch which ceases to exist if it is stamped down in a mortar. No, in its primitive form life is like fire, like a flame borne by the living substance;-like a flame which appears in endless diversity and yet has specificity within it;-which can adopt the form of the organic world, of the lank grass-leaf and of the stem of the tree.
-- Martinus Beijerinck

#Life #Cells #Flames

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.

Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.

Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose, But young men think it is, and we were young.

The concept of two people living together for 25 years without a serious dispute suggests a lack of spirit only to be admired in sheep.

If nobody said anything unless he knew what he was talking about, a ghastly hush would descend upon the earth.

These little grey cells. It is up to them.

Time takes life away and gives us memory, gold with flame, black with embers.

Love is a flame that burns everything other than itself. It is the destruction of all that is false and the fulfillment of all that is true.

The Middle East is literally going up in flames, as is California, and Katrina's problems haven't been solved, and Congress' response is to criticize Federal judges.

Joy is a flame which association alone can keep alive, and which goes out unless communicated.