Hippocrates Quotes & Sayings

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 ... — Hippocrates

War is the only proper school of the surgeon. — Hippocrates

I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. — Hippocrates

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

Timidity betrays want of powers, and audacity a want of skill. There are, indeed, two things, knowledge and opinion, of which the one makes its possessor really to know, the other to be ignorant. — Hippocrates

What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself holding such things shameful to be spoken about. — Hippocrates

I swear ... to hold my teacher in this art equal to my own parents; to make him partner in my livelihood; when he is in need of money to share mine with him; to consider his family as my own brothers and to teach them this art, if they want to learn it, without fee or indenture. — Hippocrates

Correct is to recognize what diseases are and whence they come; which are long and which are short; which are mortal and which are not; which are in the process of changing into others; which are increasing and which are diminishing; which are major and which are minor; to treat the diseases that can be treated, but to recognize the ones that cannot be, and to know why they cannot be; by treating patients with the former, to give them the benefit of treatment as far as it is possible. — Hippocrates

Look to the seasons when choosing your cures — Hippocrates

The human soul develops up to the time of death. — Hippocrates

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

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

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. — Hippocrates

Time is that wherein there is opportunity, and opportunity is that wherein there is no great time. — Hippocrates

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

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

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. — Hippocrates

As to diseases, make a habit of two things - to help, or at least, to do no harm. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

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

In all abundance there is lack. — Hippocrates

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

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

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. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

I have clearly recorded this: for one can learn good lessons also from what has been tried but clearly has not succeeded, when it is clear why it has not succeeded. — Hippocrates

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

Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a mater of opportunity. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

It is far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has. — Hippocrates

Everything in excess is opposed to nature. — Hippocrates

The body of man has in itself blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile; these make up the nature of this body, and through these he feels pain or enjoys health. Now he enjoys the most perfect health when these elements are duly proportioned to one another in respect of compounding, power and bulk, and when they are perfectly mingled. — Hippocrates

Persons who have a painful affection in any part of the body, and are in a great measure sensible of the pain, are disordered in intellect. — Hippocrates

I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. — Hippocrates

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

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

In whatever disease sleep is laborious, it is a deadly symptom; but if sleep does good, it is not deadly. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

Let food be thy your medicine — Hippocrates

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

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. — Hippocrates

The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different. — Hippocrates

I am about to discuss the disease called 'sacred'. It is not, in my opinion, any more divine or more sacred that other diseases, but has a natural cause, and its supposed divine origin is due to men's inexperience, and to their wonder at its peculiar character. — Hippocrates

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

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

Walking is a man's best medicine. — Hippocrates

All disease starts in the gut. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

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

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

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

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

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

Everything in excess Is opposed by nature. — Hippocrates

Cure sometimes, treat often and comfort always. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

Divine is the task to relieve pain — Hippocrates

Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease. — Hippocrates

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

Those things which are sacred, are to be imparted only to sacred persons; and it is not lawful to import them to the profane until they have been initiated in the mysteries of the science. — Hippocrates

The physician treats, but nature heals. — Hippocrates

What remains in diseases after the crisis is apt to produce relapses. — Hippocrates

Rest as soon as there is pain. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

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

Disease [is] not an entity, but a fluctuating condition of the patient's body, a battle between the substance of disease and the natural self-healing tendency of the body. — Hippocrates

Medicine in its present state is, it seems to me, by now completely discovered, insofar as it teaches in each instance the particular details and the correct measures. For anyone who has an understanding of medicine in this way depends very little upon good luck, but is able to do good with or without luck. For the whole of medicine has been established, and the excellent principles discovered in it clearly have very little need of good luck. — Hippocrates

Wherefore the heart and the diaphragm are particularly sensitive, they have nothing to do, however, with the operations of the understanding, but of all these the brain is the cause. — Hippocrates

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

Persons in whom a crisis takes place pass the night preceding the paroxysm uncomfortably, but the succeeding night generally more comfortably. — Hippocrates

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

It is changes that are chiefly responsible for diseases, especially the greatest changes, the violent alterations both in the seasons and in other things. ( ... regimen and temperature, and one period of life to another. — Hippocrates

Life is short, the art long. — Hippocrates

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

I also maintain that clear knowledge of natural science must be acquired, in the first instance, through mastery of medicine alone. — Hippocrates

Life is short and the art long. — Hippocrates

For extreme illnesses extreme treatments are most fitting. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

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

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

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. — Hippocrates

When in a state of hunger, one ought not to undertake labor. — Hippocrates

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. — Hippocrates

Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgment difficult. — Hippocrates

All diseases begin in the gut. — Hippocrates

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

Through seven figures come sensations for a man; there is hearing for sounds, sight for the visible, nostril for smell, tongue for pleasant or unpleasant tastes, mouth for speech, body for touch, passages outwards and inwards for hot or cold breath. Through these come knowledge or lack of it. — Hippocrates

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

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. — Hippocrates

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

First of all 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 ... — Hippocrates

Opposites are cures for opposites. — Hippocrates

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

It's more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has. — Hippocrates

People think that epilepsy is divine simply because they don't have any idea what causes epilepsy. But I believe that someday we will understand what causes epilepsy, and at that moment, we will cease to believe that it's divine. And so it is with everything in the universe — Hippocrates

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

There are some arts which to those that possess them are painful, but to those that use them are helpful, a common good to laymen, but to those that practise them grievous. Of such arts there is one which the Greeks call medicine. For the medical man sees terrible sights, touches unpleasant things, and the misfortunes of others bring a harvest of sorrows that are peculiarly his; but the sick by means of the art rid themselves of the worst of evils, disease, suffering, pain and death. — Hippocrates