Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations

Michael Polanyi –

Hungarian chemist and social philosopher

Genius seems to consist in the power of applying
the originality of youth to the experience of
maturity.
The Study of ManCh. 

Polish proverbs

A beggar does not hate another beggar as much as
one doctor hates another.

Every Czech is a musician; every Italian a doctor;
every German a merchant; every Pole a
nobleman.

The doctor demands his fees whether he has killed
the illness or the patient.

The poor are cured by work, the rich by the doctor.

Allyson M. Pollock ?–

Professor of Public Health, University College, London

We work in teams, but are blamed as individuals.
Comment in GMC NewsFebruary ()

Alexander Pope –

English poet

Know thyself, presume no God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is man.
An Essay on Man

The more you drink, the more you crave.
Who shall decide when doctors disagree.
Moral EssaysEp. III, .

Physicians are in general the most amiable
companions and the best friends, as well as the
most learned men I know.
Letter to Ralph Allen, September ()

Hans Popper –

German born US hepatopathologist

I will begin my lecture today in the international
language of medicine—broken English.
Introduction to a lecture on receiving the Friedenwald
Medal in New York in (as related by C. B. Williams)

Karl R. Popper –?

Austrian-born British philosopher

It is not his possession of knowledge of irrefutable
truth that makes the man of science, but his
persistent and recklessly critical quest for truth.
The Logic of Scientific DiscoveryCh. 

Roy Porter –

Professor of Social History, Wellcome Institute, London

The irony is that the healthier Western society
becomes, the more medicine it craves.
The Greatest Benefit to Mankind. Harper Collins, London
()

Sir Percivall Pott –

Surgeon, St. Bartholomews Hospital, London

Surgery has undergone many great

transformations during the past fifty years, and

many are to be thanked for their contributions—

yet when we think of how many remain to be

made, it should rather stimulate our inventiveness

than fuel our vanity.

Chirurgical Observations()

When the mischief seems to be of such nature as

that gangrene and mortification are most likely to

ensue, no time can be spared...a very few hours

make all the difference between probable safety

and destruction.

Chirurgical Worksp. . Johnson, London ()

Anthony Powell –?

British author

Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for

a crime you haven’t committed.

Temporary KingsCh. ()

Sir Douglas Powell ?–

Respiratory physician, London, UK

We hear it often said of the medical profession

that new discoveries are met by captious criticism

and ungenerous mistrust.

Harveian Oration c., quoted in Harley Streetp. ,

Reginald Pound. Michael Joseph, London ()

Simon Powis –

British surgeon, Northampton, England

However well trained and highly motivated a

doctor is, it is impossible to respond safely and

efficiently to increasing demands if the

infrastructure is absent.

The TimesFebruary ()

Winthrop Mackworth Praed

–

English man of letters

Of science and logic he chatters,

As fine and as fast as he can;

Though I am no judge of such matters,

I’m sure he’s a talented man.

Poems of Life and Manners‘The Talented Man’

William Hickling Prescott

–

US historian

It is the characteristic of true science to discern

the impassable but not very obvious limits which

divide the province of reason from that of

speculation.

History of the Conquest of MexicoBk I, Ch. 

  ·  