Top 15 Jonas Salk Quotes

There is hope in dreams, imagination, and in the courage of those who wish to make those dreams a reality.

Are we being good ancestors?

I have had dreams, and I've had nightmares. I overcame the nightmares because of my dreams.

Who owns the patent on this vaccine?'
'Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?

There is no such thing as failure, there's just giving up too soon.

I have had dreams and I have had nightmares, but I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams.

Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.

I look upon ourselves as partners in all of this, and that each of us contributes and does what he can do best. And so I see not a top rung and a bottom rung - I see all this horizontally - and I see this as part of a matrix. And I see every human being as having a purpose, a destiny, if you like - the destiny that exists in each of us - and find ways and means to provide such opportunities for everyone.

Hope lies in dreams, in imagination and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality.

When things get bad enough, then something happens to correct the course. And it's for that reason that I speak about evolution as an error-making and an error-correcting process. And if we can be ever so much better - ever so much slightly better - at error correcting than at error making, then we'll make it.

What makes your heart leap?

Reply when questioned on the safety of the polio vaccine he developed:

It is safe, and you can't get safer than safe.

Our greatest responsiblity is to be good ancestors.

I feel that the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more.

Some people are constructive, if you like. Others are destructive. It's this diversity in humankind that results in some making positive contributions and some negative contributions. It's necessary to have enough to make positive contributions to overcome the problems of each age.