Alexander Fleming

When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.

One sometimes finds what one is not looking for.

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 thoughtless person playing with penicillin treatment is morally responsible for the death of the man who succumbs to infection with a penicillin-resistant organism.

I did not invent penicillin. Nature did. I just discovered it.

The story of penicillin has a certain romantic appeal, and it has been told many times. It is a story of chance, of observation, and of perseverance.

The mold was a stroke of luck, but the observation and the subsequent experiments were not.

Many of the problems of the world could be solved if we were all as careful with our antibiotics as we are with our money.

I have been accused of being a lucky man. It is true, but I think I have also been a careful observer.

The greatest discovery of all time was the discovery of how to discover.

It is not the man who first sees a thing, but he who first sees its significance, that is the true discoverer.

The future of medicine lies in the prevention of disease, not in its cure.

The public will not understand the importance of scientific research until they are directly affected by its results.

I am not a hero. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.

The more we know, the more we realize how much we don't know.

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.

The only way to do great work is to love what you do.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.