Breaking Through Quotes

“I don’t consider myself especially smart. Over the years, I have met many people born with what seemed to be a photographic memory, a gift for learning effortlessly. One of my elementary school classmates could hear something once and remember it forever. That wasn’t me; it has never been me. But even as a young child, I understood something critical: What I lacked in natural ability, I could make up for in effort. I could work harder, put in more hours, do more, and do it with greater care.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“For example, as Selye seems to suggest, we cannot control anyone’s reactions but our own. Therefore, we shouldn’t work to please others or to gain their approval; we must, instead, set our own goals and work to satisfy those. When faced with setbacks or failures, we mustn’t blame others; assigning blame keeps us focused on things over which we have no power. Instead, we can respond to misfortune by learning more, working harder, and being more creative.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“Each of those obstacles would always be more tangible than contributions I hadn’t yet made. Obstacles have shape and structure; you can see them. One’s future impact, by contrast, remains invisible, hypothetical, at least until the future finally arrives.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“For example, as Selye seems to suggest, we cannot control anyone’s reactions but our own. Therefore, we shouldn’t work to please others or to gain their approval; we must, instead, set our own goals and work to satisfy those.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“Then I’d lean in and I’d hug Susan, and I’d tell her everything I once longed to hear: Can I kiss where it hurts? Can I give you a hug? Here, my love, let me comfort you now, let me give you everything I didn’t get when I felt bad. Sometimes, I think, that is the best we can do: to learn from the world we’ve been handed and then try to leave things a little bit better for the next generation.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“A person may lack prestige or a diploma but nevertheless have a swift mind.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“Meanwhile, I was reading nonstop. As I write these words, I’ve read nearly nine thousand scientific articles that seemed to me worth tracking (I’ve read plenty more that I didn’t care to track). When I read a scientific paper, I usually read everything—not merely the abstract or the conclusions but also the background, the experimental methods, every figure and table. I read the references, too, often using them as jumping-off points for new papers I want to read. My life has been journal after journal, day after day, week after week, year after year, decade after decade.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“Just one more thing. That’s how I got better: just one more question, one more test, one more thing I might think of, one more task to which I could apply myself. I could read, reread, then start over. I could memorize, test myself on what I had just learned, then study some more, just to be sure. Again and again and again: just one more thing.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“And it turns out that the brain is malleable. What we practice, we strengthen. I practiced being an excellent student—it was an active practice, the way an aspiring athlete might shoot baskets. Like an athlete, I got better.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“But even as a young child, I understood something critical: What I lacked in natural ability, I could make up for in effort. I could work harder, put in more hours, do more, and do it with greater care.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“And of all my early lessons that prepared me to be a scientist, that one, I think, is the most important of all: that work and play can bleed into each other, become one and the same, until the very idea of their distinction feels meaningless.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“And of all my early lessons that prepared me to be a scientist, that one, I think, is the most important of all: that work and”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“If we want more women in science, if we want more women in anything, this is something we must address. The sooner the better. An affordable system of quality childcare is an investment for a nation, and it is one, I think, that comes back a millionfold.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“Every day after lunch, the staff bundled all the children in warm attire and blankets, took them outside, and let them sleep in the brisk air. This is a European thing: to let babies and children nap outdoors in all seasons, even during winter.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science

“But while DNA is meant to last forever, all RNA is temporary. It serves a specific purpose, then is broken down by the cell.”
― Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through: My Life in Science