Galen of Pergamon
A prominent physician and surgeon in the Roman Empire whose extensive writings dominated Western medicine for over a millennium.
Most quoted
"I have done as much for medicine as Trajan did for the Roman Empire when he built the bridges and roads through Italy. It is I, and I alone, who have revealed the true path of medicine."
— from On My Own Books
"All who drink of this remedy recover in a short time, except those whom it does not help, who all die. Therefore, it is obvious that it fails only in incurable cases."
— from On the Therapeutic Method
"I have often seen physicians, when they have failed to cure a disease, blame the patient's constitution, or the stars, or anything but their own ignorance."
— from On the Natural Faculties
All quotes by Galen of Pergamon (337)
The soul is the source of all movement and sensation.
Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food.
It is necessary to know the disease, the patient, and the physician.
A good physician treats the disease; a great physician treats the patient who has the disease.
Medicine is the art of imitating the curative effects of nature.
The physician is only nature's assistant.
Every animal is sad after coitus except the human female and the rooster.
The arteries are naturally filled with blood, not with air.
There is no need to argue about the truth of what is obvious to the senses.
The stomach is the principal organ of concoction.
A physician must be skilled in reasoning, be able to observe, and have experience.
The liver is the source of the veins and the principal instrument of sanguification.
Anger is a short madness.
The heart is the hearthstone and source of the innate heat.
It is impossible to cure a severe illness with weak medicines.
The brain is the citadel of sense perception and thought.
One should not be ashamed to learn from anyone who can teach something useful.
The best constitution is one which is midway between extremes.
Exercise is the most important part of the regimen for health.
The cure of the part should not be attempted without treatment of the whole.
Contemporaries of Galen of Pergamon
Other Medicines born within 50 years of Galen of Pergamon (129–216).