"The story of penicillin has a certain romantic appeal, and I think that may be one of the reasons it has attracted so much attention. But the real story is much more prosaic."

"It is a happy accident that the mold grew on my plate, but it was not an accident that I recognized it."

"The discovery of penicillin was a series of small observations, not a single eureka moment."

"I am not an orator, but a simple bacteriologist."

"I have been very lucky in my scientific career. I have stumbled on things by accident."