Florence Nightingale

The first possibility of rural cleanliness lies in water supply.

I stand at the altar of the murdered men, and, while I live, I fight their cause.

For what is Mysticism? Is it not the attempt to draw near to God, not by rites or ceremonies, but by inward disposition? Is it not merely a hard word for 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within'?

To understand God's thoughts we must study statistics, for these are the measure of His purpose.

The ultimate destination of all nursing is the nursing of the sick in their own homes. ... I look to the abolition of all hospitals and workhouse infirmaries. But it is no use to talk about the year 2000.

Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires as exclusive a devotion, as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work.

Let whoever is in charge keep this simple question in her head (not, how can I always do this right thing myself, but) how can I provide for this right thing to be always done?

The symptoms or the sufferings generally considered to be inevitable and incident to the disease are very often not symptoms of the disease at all, but of something quite different—of the want of fresh air, or of light, or of warmth, or of quiet, or of cleanliness, or of punctuality and care in the administration of diet, of each or of all of these.

It is the unqualified result of all my experience with the sick that, second only to their need of fresh air, is their need of light.

Never to allow a patient to be waked, intentionally or accidentally, is a sine qua non of all good nursing.

The nurse is always to be depended upon, never to circumvent the doctor.

I have learned to know God. I have recast my social belief... All my admirers are married; most of my friends are dead; and I stand with all the world before me, where to choose a path to make in it.

The Lady with the Lamp shall be the new Minerva; for she has shown herself greater than the goddess of wisdom; she has shown herself the goddess of goodness.

I am a kind of thermometer, I suppose, for I always know exactly how the wind blows.

The only English patients I have ever known refuse tea, have been typhus cases; and the first sign of their getting better was their craving again for tea.

Poetry and imagination begin life. A child will fall on its knees on the gravel walk at the sight of a pink hawthorn in full flower, when it is by itself, to praise God for it.

I can stand out the war with any man.

The true foundation of theology is to ascertain the character of God. It is by the aid of Statistics that law in the social sphere can be ascertained and codified, and certain aspects of the character of God thereby revealed. The study of statistics is thus a religious service.

Why have women passion, intellect, moral activity—these three—and a place in society where no one of the three can be exercised?

Women never have a half-hour in all their lives (excepting before or after anybody is up in the house) that they can call their own, without fear of offending or of hurting someone.