As For The Presence Of

I Told Mother Of My Decision To Study Medicine. She Encouraged Me To Speak To Father... I Began In A Roundabout Way... He Listened, Looking At Me With That Serious And Penetrating Gaze Of His That Caused Me Such Trepidation, And Asked Whether I Knew What I Wanted To Do.

At 20, I Realized That I Could Not Possibly Adjust To A Feminine Role As Conceived By My Father And Asked Him Permission To Engage In A Professional Career. In Eight Months I Filled My Gaps In Latin, Greek And Mathematics, Graduated From High School, And Entered Medical School In Turin.

Babies Did Not Attract Me, And I Was Altogether Without The Maternal Sense So Highly Developed In Small And Adolescent Girls.

The Body Does Whatever It Wants. I Am Not My Body; I Am My Mind.

If I Had Not Been Discriminated Against Or Had Not Suffered Persecution, I Would Never Have Received The Nobel Prize.