Hippocrates

The chief virtue that a man can possess is to be master of himself.

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

Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies.

The physician is only nature's assistant.

The art of medicine is to keep the patient in good spirits while nature takes its course.

Men ought to know that from nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations.

It is the physician's duty to heal the sick, but it is also his duty to teach the healthy how to remain so.

The physician must be a man of keen observation, of sound judgment, and of a pure and upright character.

The physician should look to the patient's whole life, not just his illness.

The physician is the servant of nature, not her master.

The wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings.

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 and to do no harm.

The physician should be able to predict the course of a disease, and to tell the patient what to expect.

The physician must be able to distinguish between what is curable and what is incurable.

The physician should be a man of few words, but of many deeds.

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

The complete physician is one who can tell what has been, what is, and what will be.

The greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, provided the madness is given by divine gift.

It is nature that cures diseases.

The most important thing in medicine is to know what is going on in the patient's mind.