Medicines are only fit for old people.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Do not forget: in medicine, there are more important things than life and death: dollars and cents.
—Gerhard Kocher (b.1939) Swiss Publicist, Aphorist
Medicine heals doubts as well as diseases.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
The doctor learns that if he gets ahead of the superstitions of his patients he is a ruined man; and the result is that he instinctively takes care not to get ahead of them.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Time rushes towards us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation.
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
At today’s prices for medicines, doctors and hospitals-if the latter are available at any price-only millionaires can afford to be hurt or sick and pay for it. Very few people want socialized medicine in the U.S. But pressure for it is going to appear with the same hurricane force as the demand for pollution control if the medicine men and hospital operators don’t take soon some Draconian measures… At the present rate of doctor fees and hospital costs under Medicare and Medicaid plans (taxpayers) are shovelling in billions with nothing but escalation in sight.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
I know of nothing more laughable than a doctor who does not die of old age.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
I firmly believe that if the whole materia medica, as now used, could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be better for mankind-and all the worse for the fishes.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
He is the best physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of hope.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
I was under medication when I made the decision not to burn the tapes.
—Richard Nixon (1913–94) American Head of State, Lawyer
You medical people will have more lives to answer for in the other world than even we generals.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability.
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
Walking is man’s best medicine.
—Hippocrates (460–370 BCE) Ancient Greek Physician
The best cure for the body is a quiet mind.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Physic is, for the most part, only a substitute for temperance and exercise.
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719) English Essayist, Poet, Playwright, Politician
Medicine is a collection of uncertain prescriptions, the results of which, taken collectively, are more fatal than useful to mankind.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Medicine can only cure curable disease, and then not always
—Chinese Proverb
I am dying from the treatment of too many physicians.
—Lucan (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) (39–65 CE) Roman Statesman, Latin Poet
There is no medicine to cure hatred.
—African Proverb
The best doctor is the one you run to and can’t find.
—Denis Diderot (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
As long as men are liable to die and are desirous to live, a physician will be made fun of, but he will be well paid.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Vaccination is the medical sacrament corresponding to baptism.
—Samuel Butler
The difference between an itch and an allergy is about one hundred bucks.
—Unknown
The doctor should be opaque to his patients and, like a mirror, should show them nothing but what is shown to him.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
All interest in disease and death is only another expression of interest in life.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Short Story Writer, Social Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
He has been a doctor a year now and has had two patients, no, three, I think—yes, it was three; I attended their funerals.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Water, air, and cleanliness are the chief articles in my pharmacopoeia.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.
—Paul Dudley White (1886–1973) American Cardiologist
Sleep is better than medicine.
—Anonymous
Doctor, no medicine.—We are machines made to live—organized expressly for that purpose.—Such is our nature.—Do not counteract the living principle.—Leave it at liberty to defend itself, and it will do better than your drugs.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Well, now there’s a remedy for everything except death.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Time is generally the best doctor.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
There are some remedies worse than the disease.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
God heals and the doctor takes the fee.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The universal medicine for the Soul is the Supreme Reason and Absolute Justice; for the mind, mathematical and practical Truth; for the body, the Quintessence, a combination of light and gold.
—Albert Pike (1809–91) American Masonic Scholar, Orator, Jurist
He’s the best physician that knows the worthlessness of the most medicines.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Prevention is better than cure.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
The superior doctor prevents sickness; The mediocre doctor attends to impending sickness; The inferior doctor treats actual sickness;
—Chinese Proverb
We seem ambitious God’s whole work to undo.—With new diseases on ourselves we war, and with new physic, a worse engine far.
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
When a lot of remedies are suggested for a disease, that means it can’t be cured.
—Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian Short-Story Writer
Surgeons must be very careful. When they take the knife, underneath their fine incisions, stirs the culprit—life!
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
The more ignorant, reckless and thoughtless a doctor is, the higher his reputation soars even amongst powerful princes.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
They do certainly give very strange, and newfangled, names to diseases.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
You can’t treat a car like a patient. A car needs love.
—Gerhard Kocher (b.1939) Swiss Publicist, Aphorist
There are worse occupations in this world than feeling a woman’s pulse.
—Laurence Sterne (1713–68) Irish Anglican Novelist, Clergyman
Medicine knows no limits, especially not its own.
—Gerhard Kocher (b.1939) Swiss Publicist, Aphorist
Half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds might eat them.
—Martin H. Fischer
Deceive not thy physician, confessor, nor lawyer.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
Conscience, man’s moral medicine chest.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
He who lives by medical prescriptions lives miserably.
—Common Proverb