Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations

When moving forward toward the discovery of the
unknown, the scientist is like a traveler who
reaches higher and higher summits from which
he sees in the distance new countries to explore.
Quoted by René Dubos in Louis Pasteur, Free Lance of Science

To him who devotes his life to science, nothing can
give more happiness than increasing the number
of discoveries, but his cup of joy is full when the
results of his studies immediately find practical
applications.
Quoted by René Dubos in Louis Pasteur, Free Lance of Science

If you suppress laboratories, physical science will
be stricken with barrenness and death.
Some Reflections on Science in FrancePt 

When meditating over a disease, I never think of
finding a remedy for it, but, instead, a means of
preventing it.
Address to École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, Paris,
May ()

One does not ask of one who suffers: What is your
country and what is your religion? One merely
says: You suffer, this is enough for me: you belong
to me and I shall help you.
Speech to the Philanthropic Society, June ()

In the field of observation, chance only favours
the prepared mind.
Inaugural address as Professor and Dean of the new
Faculty of Sciences at Lille, France

I desire judgment and criticism upon all my
contributions.
The Germ Theory and its Applications to Medicine and Surgery
Ch. , Sect. III.

All things are hidden, obscure and debatable if the
cause of the phenomena be unknown, but
everything is clear if this cause be known.
The Germ Theory and Its Application to Medicine and
SurgeryCh. 

Bachya ben Joseph ibn Pauda th

century

A sick person who lies to his physician cheats only
himself, wastes the physician’s efforts and
aggravates his sickness.
Duties of the HeartThird Treatise, Ch. 

Paul of Aegina –

Alexandria-trained physician

All those who have cataract see the light more or
less, and by this we distinguish cataract from
amaurosis and glaucoma; for persons affected
with these complaints do not perceive the light
at all.
Wo r k sBk ‘On Cataracts’ (transl. Francis Adams)

Cesare Pavese –

Italian writer

One stops being a child when one realises that
telling one’s trouble does not make it better.
The Business of Living: Diaries–

No one ever lacks a good reason for suicide.

Attributed

Ivan Pavlov –

Russian experimental physiologist

School yourself to demureness and patience.

Learn to innure yourself to drudgery in science.

Learn, compare, collect the facts.

Bequest to the Academic Youth of Soviet Russia,

February ()

Experiment alone crowns the efforts of medicine,

experiment limited only by the natural range of

the powers of the human mind.

Experimental Psychology and Other EssaysPt X, Essay 

(transl. S. Belsky)

Only by passing through the fire of experiment

will medicine as a whole become what it should

be, namely a conscious and, hence, always

purposefully acting science.

Experimental Psychology and Other EssaysPt X, Essay 

(transl. S. Belsky)

First of all be systematic, learn to do drudgery,

second comes modesty; pride will deprive you of

the ability to be objective, and the third thing

necessary is passion – be passionate in your work

and in your search for truth.

Dictionary of Medical Eponyms(nd edn), p. Firkin and

Whitworth. The Parthenon, Lancashire, UK ()

Frank Payne –

British medical historian

This basis of medicine is sympathy and the desire

to help others, and whatever is done with this end

must be called medicine.

English Medicine in the Anglo-SaxonTimes. Clarendon Press,

Oxford ()

Francis Weld Peabody –

US pathologist, haematologist, and author

The treatment of a disease may be entirely

impersonal; the care of a patient must be

completely personal.

The Care of the Patient

There is no more contradiction between the

science of medicine and the art of medicine than

between the science of aeronautics and the art of

flying.

The Care of the Patient

Disease in man is never exactly the same disease

in an experimental animal, for in man the disease

at once affects and is affected by what we call the

emotional life.

The Care of the Patient

One of the essential qualities of the clinician is

interest in humanity, for the secret of the care of

the patient is in caring for the patient.

The Care of the Patient

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