Hippocrates quotes

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.

And if this were so in all cases, the principle would be established, that sometimes conditions can be treated by things opposite to those from which they arose, and sometimes by things like to those from which they arose.

It is more important to know the person who has the condition than it is to know the condition the person has.

If someone wishes for good health, one must first ask oneself if he is ready to do away with the reasons for his illness. Only then is it possible to help him.

Medicine is of all the Arts the most noble; but, owing to the ignorance of those who practice it, and of those who, inconsiderately, form a judgment of them, it is at present behind all the arts.

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.

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

Extreme remedies are very appropriate for extreme diseases.

And he will manage the cure best who has foreseen what is to happen from the present state of matters.

To do nothing is sometimes a good remedy.

In all abundance there is lack.

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

There are in fact two things, science and opinion. The former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance.

All diseases begin in the gut.

Declare the past, diagnose the present, foretell the future.

Eunuchs do not take the gout, nor become bald.

The chief virtue that language can have is clarity.

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

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.

Of several remedies, the physician should choose the least sensational.

Look well to the spine for the cause of disease.

Where prayer, amulets and incantations work it is only a manifestation of the patient's belief.

In acute diseases the physician must conduct his inquiries in the following way. First he must examine the face of the patient, and see whether it is like the faces of healthy people, and especially whether it is like its usual self. Such likeness will be the best sign, and the greatest unlikeness will be the most dangerous sign. The latter will be as follows. Nose sharp, eyes hollow, temples sunken, ears cold and contracted with their lobes turned outwards, the skin about the face hard and tense and parched, the colour of the face as a whole being yellow or black.

To really know is science; to merely believe you know is ignorance.

Health is the greatest of human blessings.

Things that are holy are revealed only to men who are holy.

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

Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.

Nature itself is the best physician.

It is believed by experienced doctors that the heat which oozes out of the hand, on being applied to the sick, is highly salutary. It has often appeared, while I have been soothing my patients, as if there was a singular property in my hands to pull and draw away from the affected parts aches and diverse impurities, by laying my hand upon the place, and extending my fingers toward it. Thus it is known to some of the learned that health may be implanted in the sick by certain gestures, and by contact, as some diseases may be communicated from one to another.

The forms of diseases are many and the healing of them is manifold.

Walking is man's best medicine.

Science begets knowledge; opinion, ignorance.

The physician must be able to tell the antecedents, know the present, and foretell the future — must mediate these things, and have two special objects in view with regard to disease, namely, to do good or to do no harm.

The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings. Let food be your medicine.

Opposites are cures for opposites.

Each of the substances of a man's diet acts upon his body and changes it in some way and upon these changes his whole life depends.

The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.

That which is used - develops. That which is not used wastes away.

It is better to be full of drink than full of food.

It is better not to apply any treatment in cases of occult cancer; for if treated (by surgery), the patients die quickly; but if not treated, they hold out for a long time.

Silence is not only never thirsty, but also never brings pain or sorrow.

Idleness and lack of occupation tend - nay are dragged - towards evil.

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

From nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations

...all the most acute, most powerful, and most deadly diseases, and those which are most difficult to be understood by the inexperienced, fall upon the brain.

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

Physicians are many in title but very few in reality.

All parts of the body which have a function, if used in moderation and exercised in labors in which each is accustomed, become thereby healthy, well developed and age more slowly, but if unused they become liable to disease, defective in growth and age quickly.

Rest as soon as there is pain.

Divine is the task to relieve pain

Let your food be your medicine, and your medicine be your food.

Men ought to know that from the brain and from the brain only arise our pleasures, joys, laughter, and jests as well as our sorrows, pains, griefs and tears. ... It is the same thing which makes us mad or delirious, inspires us with dread and fear, whether by night or by day, brings us sleeplessness, inopportune mistakes, aimless anxieties, absent-mindedness and acts that are contrary to habit.

Everything in excess is opposed to nature.

The human body contains blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. These are the things that make up its constitution and cause its pain and health. Health is primarily that state in which these constituent substances are in the correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity, and are well mixed.

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food

Our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food.

He who does not understand astrology is not a doctor but a fool.

If you are not your own doctor, you are a fool.

He who wishes to be a surgeon should go to war.

Foolish the doctor who despises the knowledge acquired by the ancients.

Make a habit of two things: to help; or at least to do no harm.

The natural force within each of us is that greatest healer of all.

Primum non nocerum. (First do no harm)

The life so short, the craft so long to learn.

Where there is love of medicine, there is love of humankind.

Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness.

Sometimes give your services for nothing.

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.

A wise man ought to realize that health is his most valuable possession.

All disease starts in the gut.

Look to the seasons when choosing your cures

Illnesses do not come upon us out of the blue. They are developed from small daily sins against Nature. When enough sins have accumulated, illnesses will suddenly appear.

It is most necessary to know the nature of the spine. One or more vertebrae may or may not go out of place very much and if they do, they are likely to produce serious complications and even death, if not properly adjusted. Many diseases are related to the spine.

The function of protecting and developing health must rank even above that of restoring it when it is impaired.

War is the only proper school of the surgeon.

The way to health is to have an aromatic bath and a scented massage every day.

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, which the student must try to appropriate to himself by reflection, becoming an early pupil in a place well adapted for instruction. He must also bring to the task a love of labor and perseverance, so that the instruction taking root may bring forth proper and abundant fruits.

All excesses are inimical to Nature. It is safer to proceed a little at a time, especially when changing from one regimen to another.

Life is short, and the Art long; the occasion fleeting; experience fallacious, and judgment difficult. The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and externals cooperate.

Conclusions which are merely verbal cannot bear fruit, only those do which are based on demonstrated fact. For affirmation and talk are deceptive and treacherous. Wherefore one must hold fast to facts in generalizations also, and occupy oneself with facts persistently, if one is to acquire that ready and infallible habit which we call "the art of medicine".

What medicines do not heal, the lance will; what the lance does not heal, fire will.

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.

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

I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion.

Your foods shall be your 'remedies,' and your 'remedies' shall be your foods.

And if incision of the temple is made on the left, spasm seizes the parts on the right, while if the incision is on the right, spasm seizes the parts on the left.

Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.

The human soul develops up to the time of death.

I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrongdoing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly, I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. I will keep pure and holy both my life and my art.

Some patients, though conscious that their condition is perilous, recover their health simply through their contentment with the goodness of the physician.

Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.

All disease begins in the gut.

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

Wine is an appropriate article for mankind, both for the healthy body and for the ailing man.

Whoever is to acquire a competent knowledge of medicine, ought to be possessed of the following advantages: a natural disposition; instructionl a favorable place for the study; early tuition, love of labor; leisure.

Many admire, few know.

We must turn to nature itself, to the observations of the body in health and in disease to learn the truth.

A physician without a knowledge of Astrology has no right to call himself a physician.

The greatest medicine of all is teaching people how not to need it

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.

When in sickness, look to the spine first.

Science is the father of knowledge, but opinion breeds ignorance.

Any man who is intelligent must, on considering that health is of the utmost value to human beings, have the personal understanding necessary to help himself in diseases, and be able to understand and to judge what physicians say and what they administer to his body, being versed in each of these matters to a degree reasonable for a layman.

Whoever wishes to investigate medicine should proceed thus: In the first place, consider the seasons of the year and what effect each of them produces.

Old people have fewer diseases than the young, but their diseases never leave them.

Sleep and watchfulness, both of them, when immoderate, constitute disease.

Those diseases which medicines do not cure, iron cures; those which iron cannot cure, fire cures; and those which fire cannot cure, are to be reckoned wholly incurable.

The physician must have at his command a certain ready wit, as dourness is repulsive both to the healthy and the sick.

It's far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has.

Walking is a man's best medicine.

An insolent reply from a polite person is a bad sign.

Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases

Sport is a preserver of health.

Fat people who want to reduce should take their exercise on an empty stomach and sit down to their food out of breath.... Thin people who want to get fat should do exactly the opposite and never take exercise on an empty stomach.

Declare the past, diagnose the present, foretell the future; practice these acts. As to diseases, make a habit of two things--to help, or at least to do no harm.

Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experiment uncertain, and judgment difficult.

Anyone wishing to study medicine must master the art of massage.

The patient must combat the disease along with the physician.

Just as food causes chronic disease, it can be the most powerful cure

Wherever the art of Medicine is loved, there is also a love of Humanity.

Men think epilepsy divine, merely because they do not understand it. We will one day understand what causes it, and then cease to call it divine. And so it is with everything in the universe.

The physician treats, but nature heals.

Positive health requires a knowledge of man's primary constitution and of the powers of various foods, both those natural to them and those resulting from human skill. But eating alone is not enough for health. There must also be exercise, of which the effects must likewise be known. The combination of these two things makes regimen, when proper attention is given to the season of the year, the changes of the wind, the age of the individual, and the situation of his home. If there is any deficiency in food or exercise, the body will fall sick.

Men ought to know that from nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations. And by this, in an especial manner, we acquire wisdom and knowledge, and see and hear and know what are foul and what are fair, what are bad and what are good, what are sweet and what are unsavory…. And by the same organ we become mad and delirious, and fears and terrors assail us….All these things we endure from the brain when it is not healthy….In these ways I am of the opinion that the brain exercises the greatest power in the man.