"Why do we do basic research? To learn about ourselves."
"We haven't been able yet to determine in terms of genes what makes a human being a human and not another mammal."
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Source: Personal email message, momentofscience.blogspot.ru. July 11, 2006.
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More quotes by Walter Gilbert
"It's easier to change what you do than people think it is. If you don't change, your field changes around you."
"Biology will relate every human gene to the genes of other animals and bacteria, to this great chain of being."
"The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought."
"The interaction of the variation in our genes is what's responsible for lots of our attributes and vigor."
"Three billion bases of DNA sequence can be put on a single compact disc and one will be able to pull a CD out of one's pocket and say, 'Here is a human being; it's me!'"