"It is not difficult to make microbes resistant to penicillin in the laboratory by exposing them to concentrations not sufficient to kill them, and the same thing has occasionally happened in the body. The time may come when penicillin can be bought by anyone in the shops. Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant".
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
"The unprepared mind cannot see the outstretched hand of opportunity."
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
"For the birth of something new, there has to be a happening. Newton saw an apple fall; James Watt watched a kettle boil; Roentgen fogged some photographic plates. And these people knew enough to translate ordinary happenings into something new..."
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
"Penicillin cures, but wine makes people happy."
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
"One sometimes finds what one is not looking for."
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
"Nature makes penicillin; I just found it."
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
"It is the lone worker who makes the first advance in a subject: the details may be worked out by a team, but the prime idea is due to the enterprise, thought, and perception of an individual."
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
"Suggested remedy for the common cold: A good gulp of whiskey at bedtime-it's not very scientific, but it helps."
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
"If penicillin can cure those that are ill, Spanish sherry can bring the dead back to life."
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)
"I have been trying to point out that in our lives chance may have an astonishing influence and, if I may offer advice to the young laboratory worker, it would be this-never neglect an extraordinary appearance or happening. It may be-usually is, in fact-a false alarm that leads to nothing, but may on the other hand be the clue provided by fate to lead you to some important advance."
—Alexander Fleming (1881-1955)