Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

Medicine Persian 980 – 1037 391 quotes

Canon of Medicine was standard text for centuries

Quotes by Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

The universe is ordered and rational.

Philosophical and scientific discourse (implied speech)

The physician must be a source of hope for the sick.

Medical ethics (implied lecture)

The study of nature reveals the wisdom of the Creator.

Philosophical and theological discourse (implied speech)

The physician must treat the whole person, not just the disease.

Holistic medical approach (implied lecture)

The ignorant man is one who does not know what he does not know.

Various biographical accounts

When I am ill, I prescribe for myself what I have prescribed for others.

Attributed

If you want to live a healthy life, you must be a good cook.

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The cure for ignorance is to ask questions.

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To be ignorant of what you are ignorant of is the curse of ignorance.

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The wise man is he who knows what he does not know.

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I have never seen a man who was not a fool in some respect.

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The physician should be able to tell the future, for he knows the past.

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The disease is not in the body, but in the mind.

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He who knows himself knows his Lord.

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The best medicine is a good laugh.

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The physician must be a philosopher, for he deals with the whole man.

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I have studied medicine for so long that I have become a disease myself.

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The only thing I know is that I know nothing.

Attributed (similar to Socrates)

To understand the world, you must understand yourself.

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The more you think, the more you know; the more you know, the more you doubt.

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