"Treasure your exceptions"

ByCarl Zimmer
January 22, 2011

“If I may throw out a word of counsel to beginners, it is: Treasure your exceptions! When there are none, the work gets so dull that no one cares to carry it further. Keep them always uncovered and in sight. Exceptions are like the rough brickwork of a growing building which tells that there is more to come and shows where the next construction is to be.”

William Bateson, in The Method and Scope of Genetics, 1908. [pdf]

[Image: National Portrait Gallery]

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