Barbara McClintock

It was just so obvious once you saw it.

I just knew it was going to be important.

It was just so beautiful, the way it worked.

I just had to figure it out.

It was just so elegant.

I just had to share it.

It was just so profound.

I just had to tell people.

When you know every plant in the field, you know them intimately, and you know what they're doing.

I had a feeling that something was going on that was not in the textbooks.

I found that the chromosomes were not static, but were moving and changing.

The genome is not a static entity; it is a highly dynamic and interactive system.

I couldn't believe that the genome was just a string of beads. It had to be more complicated than that.

The gene is not the sole determinant of the phenotype. The environment plays a crucial role.

I spent years just looking, just observing, without any preconceived notions.

It was a feeling for the organism, for the 'corn plant,' that was central to my work.

I was convinced that there was a mechanism for genetic change, and I was determined to find it.

The genome is not a fixed blueprint, but a flexible and adaptable system.

I didn't try to fit my observations into existing theories; I let the observations lead me.

The idea of 'jumping genes' was so radical that many people just couldn't accept it.