“My philosophy is of the heart and not of the mind, and I give myself up, for instance, to those feelings about eternity which come naturally at the bedside of a cherished child drawing its last breath.”

— Louis Pasteur, The Life of Pasteur (1902), p. 163

About Louis Pasteur

1822 – 1895

French chemist and microbiologist who developed pasteurization and helped establish the germ theory of disease.

“Chance favors only the prepared mind.”

“In the fields of observation chance favours only the prepared mind.”

“There does not exist a category of science to which one can give the name applied science.”

“I was thinking what a curious thing love is; only a sentiment, and yet it has power to make fools of men and slaves of women.”

“There is the love of knowing without the love of learning; the beclouding here leads to dissipation of mind.”

“When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind.”

“Wouldst thou other men know, look thou within thine own heart.”

“I made up my mind long ago that life was too short to do anything for myself that I could pay others to do for me.”

“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth — and truth rewarded me.”