John Pearson –
English surgeon, London
He who reduces the province of a Surgeon to the
performance of operations, and consequently
directs his attention in a transient and careless
manner to the less splendid parts of his profession,
may learn the art of mutilating his fellow
creatures, but will never deserve to be treated as a
good Surgeon.
Principles of SurgeryPreface
Charles Péguy –
French nationalist, publisher and poet
When a man lies dying, he does not die from the
disease alone. He dies from his whole life.
Basic Verities‘The Search for Truth’
Wilder Penfield –
American-born Canadian neurosurgeon, McGill
University
The trouble is not in science but in the uses men
make of it. Doctor and layman alike must learn
wisdom in their employment of science, whether
this applies to atom bombs or blood transfusion.
The Second Career‘A Doctor’s Philosophy’
There are times when compassion should prompt
us to forego prolonged and costly treatment.
The Second Career‘A Doctor’s Philosophy’
It is fair to say that science provides no method of
controlling the mind. Scientific work on the brain
does not explain the mind—not yet.
Dartmouth Convocation on The Great Issues of Conscience
in Modern Medicine ()
R. G. Penn –
British clinical pharmacologist, London
The medical herbalist is at fault for clinging to
outworn historical authority and for not assessing
his drugs in terms of today’s knowledge, and the
orthodox physician is at fault for a cynical
scepticism with regard to any healing discipline
other than his own.
Adverse Drug Reaction BulletinNo. ()
William Penn –
English Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania
Drunkenness spoils health, dismounts the mind,
and unmans men.
Fruits of SolitudeMaxim
Samuel Pepys –
English diarist
Thanks be to God, since my leaving drinking of
wine, I do find myself much better and do mind
my business better, and do spend less money, and
less time lost in idle company.
DiaryJanuary ()
Thomas Percival –
English physician and medical ethicist
The invention of an hypothesis is a work of no
difficulty to a lively imagination.
Essays Medical, Philosophical, and ExperimentalVol. I ‘The
Empiric’Meyer A. Perlstein –
If your time hasn’t come, not even a doctor can
kill you.
AttributedPersian proverb
When there are two midwives, the baby’s head is
crooked.Aulus Flaccus Persius AD–
Roman satirist
Confront disease at its first stage.
SatiresIIIJo Peters –
British surgeon
Laparoscopic surgery—up a steep learning curve
to a plateau of ignorance.
Personal communicationJohn Punnett Peters –
US physician and clinical biochemist
Too much attention has been paid to the excretory
offices of the kidney to the neglect of its
conservative services.
Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine: ()Petrarch –
Italian poet and scholar
It is by poultices, not by words, that pain is ended,
although pain is by words both eased and
diminished.
Letter to Guido Sette ()Arbiter Petronius st century AD
Roman satirist
After all, a doctor is just to put your mind at rest.
Satyricon
Vita vinum est (wine is life).
SatyriconHeinrich von Pfolspeundt th
century
German war surgeon
A wound should be bound with clean white
bandages, else there be harmful effects. He should
wash his hands before treating anyone.
Buch der Bundth-Erntznei ·