Hippocrates Quotes
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Correct is to recognize what diseases are and whence they come; which are long and which are short; which are mortal and which are not; which are in the process of changing into others; which are increasing and which are diminishing; which are major and which are minor; to treat the diseases that can be treated, but to recognize the ones that cannot be, and to know why they cannot be; by treating patients with the former, to give them the benefit of treatment as far as it is possible.
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The brain of man, like that of all animals is double, being parted down its centre by a thin membrane. For this reason pain is not always felt in the same part of the head, but sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other, and occasionally all over.
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Wherefore the heart and the diaphragm are particularly sensitive, they have nothing to do, however, with the operations of the understanding, but of all these the brain is the cause.
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For where there is love of man, there is also love of the art.
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There is one common flow, one common breathing, all things are in sympathy.
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What medicines do not heal, the lance will; what the lance does not heal, fire will.
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From nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations.
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The life so short, the craft so long to learn.
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The dignity of a physician requires that he should look healthy, and as plump as nature intended him to be; for the common crowd consider those who are not of this excellent bodily condition to be unable to take care of themselves.
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Declare the past, diagnose the present, foretell the future.
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Health is the greatest of human blessings.
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The physician must have at his command a certain ready wit, as dourness is repulsive both to the healthy and the sick.
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There are in fact two things, science and opinion. The former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.
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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.
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There are some arts which to those that possess them are painful, but to those that use them are helpful, a common good to laymen, but to those that practise them grievous. Of such arts there is one which the Greeks call medicine. For the medical man sees terrible sights, touches unpleasant things, and the misfortunes of others bring a harvest of sorrows that are peculiarly his; but the sick by means of the art rid themselves of the worst of evils, disease, suffering, pain and death.
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If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.
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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.
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The art has three factors, the disease, the patient, the physician. The physician is the servant of the art. The patient must cooperate with the physician in combatting the disease.
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Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.
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Even when all is known, the care of a man is not yet complete, because eating alone will not keep a man well; he must also take exercise. For food and exercise, while possessing opposite qualities, yet work together to produce health.