“...Prions violate most of biology's sacred rules. They are one of those annoying reminders of how much we don't know.”

“It's not wise to violate the rules until you know how to observe them.”

“Self-preservation is a biological imperative even in the lowest of life forms, but annoyance is a trait exclusive to the most deviant.”

“One of chief pieces of advice I give to aspiring rationalists is "Don't try to be clever." And, "Listen to those quiet, nagging doubts." If you don't know, you don't know what you don't know, you don't know how much you don't know, and you don't know how much you needed to know.”

“Protein, so far as we know, does not replicate itself all by itself, not on this planet anyway. Looked at this way, the [prion] seems the strangest thing in all biology, and, until someone in some laboratory figures out what it is, a candidate for Modern Wonder. (quote originally by Lewis Thomas)”

“there are three kinds of people in the world: those who don't know and don't know they don't know; those who don't know and do know they don't know; and those who know and know how much they still don't know.”