I am not surprised that men are not grateful to me; but I wonder that they are not grateful to God for the good which He has made me the instrument of conveying to my fellow creatures.
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"I've dispatc'd, my dear madam, this scrap of a letter, To say that Miss — — is very much better. A Regular Doctor no longer she lacks, And therefore I've sent her a couple of Quacks."
"My mind is so completely absorbed in this subject, that I can think of nothing else."
"It is a pity that the practice of inoculation has not been more generally adopted; for if it had, many lives might have been saved."
"I have been so much engaged in making experiments, that I have had no time to write letters."
"The most beautiful part of the human frame is the eye; and yet it is the most liable to disease."
A personal reflection on gratitude related to his work, stated to a friend shortly before his death.
Date: Before 1823
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I don't expect personal gratitude from people, but I'm astonished they don't thank God for the benefit delivered through me. The speaker sees himself as merely a channel for divine good, not the source of it. Credit belongs to a higher power, not the human instrument. Humility about personal achievement coexists with genuine bewilderment at humanity's ingratitude toward the divine providence that enabled the blessing.
Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796 after observing that milkmaids infected with cowpox seemed immune to smallpox. Despite saving millions of lives, he faced fierce skepticism, ridicule, and resistance from the medical establishment. A deeply religious man, he consistently attributed his insight to divine guidance rather than personal genius, reflecting authentic humility amid extraordinary achievement and frustrating public ingratitude.
In late 18th-century England, smallpox killed roughly 400,000 Europeans annually and disfigured millions more. Religious faith was central to public life, making appeals to divine providence culturally resonant. Medical discoveries faced intense scrutiny from religious quarters suspicious of vaccination as interfering with God's will, making Jenner's framing of himself as God's instrument both personally sincere and strategically significant in winning acceptance.
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