Hippocrates Quotes

Science begets knowledge; opinion, ignorance.

The chief virtue that language can have is clearness, and nothing detracts from it so much as the use of unfamiliar words.

A sensible man ought to think about that well being is the best of human blessings, and find out how by his personal thought to derive profit from his sicknesses.

I have clearly recorded this: for one can learn good lessons also from what has been tried but clearly has not succeeded, when it is clear why it has not succeeded.

Life is short, science is long; opportunity is elusive, experiment is dangerous, judgement is difficult.

Life is short, the art long.

A physician who is a lover of wisdom is the equal to a god.

In all abundance there is lack.

Time is that wherein there is opportunity, and opportunity is that wherein there is no great time.

Timidity betrays want of powers, and audacity a want of skill. There are, indeed, two things, knowledge and opinion, of which the one makes its possessor really to know, the other to be ignorant.

There are, in effect, two things, to know and to believe one knows; to know is science; to believe one knows is ignorance.

When doing everything according to indications, although things may not turn out agreeably to indication, we should not change to another while the original appearances remain.

War is the only proper school of the surgeon.

Male and female have the power to fuse into one solid, both because both are nourished in both and because soul is the same thing in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.

The art is long, life is short

There is one common flow, one common breathing, all things are in sympathy.

About medications that are drunk or applied to wounds it is worth learning from everyone; for people do not discover these by reasoning but by chance, and experts not more than laymen.

I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion.

For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable.

Men ought to know that from the brain, and from the brain only, arise our pleasures, joy, laughter and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs, and tears.

If for the sake of a crowded audience you do wish to hold a lecture, your ambition is no laudable one, and at least avoid all citations from the poets, for to quote them argues feeble industry.

For where there is love of man, there is also love of the art.

Life is short and the art long.

First of all a natural talent is required; for when Nature opposes, everything else is in vain; but when Nature leads the way to what is most excellent, instruction in the art takes place.

For extreme illnesses extreme treatments are most fitting.

Those things which are sacred, are to be imparted only to sacred persons; and it is not lawful to import them to the profane until they have been initiated in the mysteries of the science.

As to diseases, make a habit of two things — to help, or at least, to do no harm.

Persons who have a painful affection in any part of the body, and are in a great measure sensible of the pain, are disordered in intellect.

If you are in a bad mood go for a walk.If you are still in a bad mood go for another walk.

What remains in diseases after the crisis is apt to produce relapses.

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.

Let food be thy your medicine

Both sleep and insomnolency, when immoderate, are bad.

Persons in whom a crisis takes place pass the night preceding the paroxysm uncomfortably, but the succeeding night generally more comfortably.

Everything in excess Is opposed by nature.

The art is long, life is short, opportunity fleeting, experiment dangerous, judgment difficult.

It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has.

Cure sometimes, treat often and comfort always.

Wherever a doctor cannot do good he must be kept from doing harm.

Prayer indeed is good but while calling on the gods a man should himself lend a hand.

Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.

Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.

Keep a watch also on the faults of the patients, which often make them lie about the taking of things prescribed.

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses.