François Jacob
A molecular biologist who, with Jacques Monod, discovered the operon model of gene regulation, explaining how genes are turned on and off.
Most quoted
"A theory is a good theory if it satisfies two requirements: It must accurately describe a large class of observations on the basis of a model that contains only a few arbitrary elements, and it must make definite predictions about the results of future observations."
— from Attributed
"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like."
— from The Logic of Life: A History of Heredity
"The dream of the biologist is to understand the living world, to grasp its essence, to unravel its secrets. But the living world is not a simple mechanism; it is a history."
— from La logique du vivant, une histoire de l'hérédité, 1970
All quotes by François Jacob (362)
Consciousness is the last great mystery.
The universe is a grand and beautiful place.
We are all interconnected.
To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.
The truth is out there.
The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
Life is a journey, not a destination.
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
The greatest wealth is health.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
The quieter you become, the more you can hear.
Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Contemporaries of François Jacob
Other Biologys born within 50 years of François Jacob (1920–2013).