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Home > Dictionary of Science Quotations > Scientist Names Index B > Sir Frederick Grant Banting Quotes

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Sir Frederick Grant Banting
(14 Nov 1891 - 21 Feb 1941)

Canadian physiologist and physician who, assisted by Charles H. Best, was the first to extract (1921) the hormone insulin from the pancreas. Injections of insulin proved to be the first effective treatment for diabetes. Banting was awarded a share of the 1923 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for this achievement.


Science Quotes by Sir Frederick Grant Banting (9 quotes)

Diabetus. Ligate pancreatic ducts of dog. Keep dogs alive till acini degenerate leaving Islets. Try to isolate the internal secretion of these to try to relieve glycosurea.
— Sir Frederick Grant Banting
His first inspiration for his future research, while preparing a lecture on the pancreas, and recorded in his notebook. Entry, dated 31 October 1920, in Notebook held by Toronto Academy of Medicine. As quoted in Michael Bliss, The Discovery of Insulin (1982, 1992), 53.
Science quotes on:  |  Alive (97)  |  Dog (70)  |  Insulin (9)  |  Internal (69)  |  Pancreas (4)  |  Try (296)

Do not enter upon research unless you can not help it. Ask yourself the “why” of every statement that is made and think out your own answer. If through your thoughtful work you get a worthwhile idea, it will get you. The force of the conviction will compel you to forsake all and seek the relief of your mind in research work.
— Sir Frederick Grant Banting
From Cameron Prize Lecture (1928), delivered before the University of Edinburgh. As quoted in J.B. Collip 'Frederick Grant Banting, Discoverer of Insulin', The Scientific Monthly (May 1941), 52, No. 5, 473.
Science quotes on:  |  Answer (389)  |  Ask (420)  |  Compel (31)  |  Conviction (100)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enter (145)  |  Force (497)  |  Forsake (4)  |  Help (116)  |  Idea (881)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Relief (30)  |  Research (753)  |  Seek (218)  |  Statement (148)  |  Think (1122)  |  Thoughtful (16)  |  Through (846)  |  Why (491)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)  |  Worthwhile (18)

I am a firm believer in the theory that you can do or be anything that you wish in this world, within reason, if you are prepared to make the sacrifices, think and work hard enough and long enough.
— Sir Frederick Grant Banting
From Cameron Prize Lecture (1928), delivered before the University of Edinburgh. As quoted and cited in Editorial Section, 'Sir Frederick Banting', Canadian Public Health Journal (May 1941), 32, No. 5, 266-267.
Science quotes on:  |  Believer (26)  |  Do (1905)  |  Enough (341)  |  Firm (47)  |  Hard (246)  |  Long (778)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Reason (766)  |  Sacrifice (58)  |  Theory (1015)  |  Think (1122)  |  Wish (216)  |  Work (1402)  |  Work Hard (14)  |  World (1850)

Insulin is not a cure for diabetes; it is a treatment. It enables the diabetic to burn sufficient carbohydrates, so that proteins and fats may be added to the diet in sufficient quantities to provide energy for the economic burdens of life.
— Sir Frederick Grant Banting
'Diabetes and Insulin', Nobel Lecture, 15 September 1925. In Nobel Lectures: Physiology or Medicine, 1922-1941 (1965), 68.
Science quotes on:  |  Burn (99)  |  Carbohydrate (3)  |  Cure (124)  |  Diabetes (5)  |  Diet (56)  |  Economic (84)  |  Enable (122)  |  Energy (373)  |  Insulin (9)  |  Life (1870)  |  Protein (56)  |  Sufficient (133)  |  Therapy (14)  |  Treatment (135)

Intravenous injections of extract from dog’s pancreas, removed from seven to ten weeks after ligation of the ducts, invariably exercises a reducing influence upon the percentage sugar of the blood and the amount of sugar excreted in the urine … the extent and duration of the reduction varies directly with the amount of extract injected.
— Sir Frederick Grant Banting
Frederick Grant Banting and Charles Herbert Best, 'The Internal Secretion of the Pancreas', Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, 1922, 7, 251-266.
Science quotes on:  |  Amount (153)  |  Blood (144)  |  Dog (70)  |  Exercise (113)  |  Extent (142)  |  Extract (40)  |  Influence (231)  |  Injection (9)  |  Insulin (9)  |  Invariably (35)  |  Pancreas (4)  |  Reduction (52)  |  Sugar (26)  |  Urine (18)  |  Week (73)

It is not within the power of the properly constructed human mind to he satisfied. Progress would cease if this were the case.
— Sir Frederick Grant Banting
From Cameron Prize Lecture (1928), delivered before the University of Edinburgh. As quoted in J.B. Collip 'Frederick Grant Banting, Discoverer of Insulin', The Scientific Monthly (May 1941), 52, No. 5, 474.
Science quotes on:  |  Case (102)  |  Cease (81)  |  Construct (129)  |  Constructed (3)  |  Human (1512)  |  Human Mind (133)  |  Mind (1377)  |  Power (771)  |  Progress (492)  |  Properly (21)  |  Satisfied (23)

No one has ever had an idea in a dress suit.
— Sir Frederick Grant Banting
Widely seen, but always without citation, for example, in Obzor (1977), 38, 10. If you know the primary source, please contact Webmaster.
Science quotes on:  |  Discovery (837)  |  Ever (4)  |  Idea (881)  |  Invention (400)  |  Nobody (103)

The greatest joy in life is to accomplish. It is the getting, not the having. It is the giving, not the keeping.
— Sir Frederick Grant Banting
From Cameron Prize Lecture (1928), delivered before the University of Edinburgh. As quoted and cited in Editorial Section, 'Sir Frederick Banting', Canadian Public Health Journal (May 1941), 32, No. 5, 266.
Science quotes on:  |  Accomplishment (102)  |  Get (3)  |  Give (208)  |  Greatest (330)  |  Joy (117)  |  Keep (104)  |  Life (1870)

You can prepare yourself for work. The paintings of the great masters, the compositions of great musicians, the sermons of great preachers, the policies of great statesmen, and the campaigns of great generals, do not spring full bloom from barren rock. … If you are a true student you will be more dissatisfied with yourself when you graduate than you are now.
— Sir Frederick Grant Banting
From Cameron Prize Lecture (1928), delivered before the University of Edinburgh. As quoted in J.B. Collip 'Frederick Grant Banting, Discoverer of Insulin', The Scientific Monthly (May 1941), 52, No. 5, 473-474.
Science quotes on:  |  Barren (33)  |  Bloom (11)  |  Campaign (6)  |  Composition (86)  |  Dissatisfaction (13)  |  Do (1905)  |  Full (68)  |  General (521)  |  Graduate (32)  |  Great (1610)  |  Master (182)  |  More (2558)  |  Musician (23)  |  Painting (46)  |  Policy (27)  |  Preacher (13)  |  Prepare (44)  |  Rock (176)  |  Sermon (9)  |  Spring (140)  |  Statesman (20)  |  Student (317)  |  True (239)  |  Will (2350)  |  Work (1402)



Quotes by others about Sir Frederick Grant Banting (1)

Again and again, often in the busiest phases of the insulin investigations, he [Frederick Banting] found time to set a fracture or perform a surgical operation on one of his army comrades or on some patient who was in need.
In 'Obituary: Sir Frederick Banting', Science (14 Mar 1941), N.S. 93, No. 2411, 248.
Science quotes on:  |  Army (35)  |  Comrade (4)  |  Fracture (7)  |  Insulin (9)  |  Investigation (250)  |  Operation (221)  |  Patient (209)  |  Perform (123)  |  Phase (37)  |  Set (400)  |  Surgery (54)  |  Time (1911)


See also:
  • 14 Nov - short biography, births, deaths and events on date of Banting's birth.
  • Banting: A Biography, by Michael Bliss. - book suggestion.
  • Booklist for Frederick Grant Banting.

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