Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
A polymath whose 'The Canon of Medicine' was a standard medical text for centuries and integrated Greek and Indian medical traditions.
Most quoted
"Now it is established in the sciences that no knowledge is acquired save through the study of its causes and beginnings, if it has had causes and beginnings; nor completed except by knowledge of its accidents and accompanying essentials."
— from The Canon of Medicine
"Medicine is a science from which one learns the states of the human body in health and disease, in order to preserve health when it exists and restore it when it has been lost."
— from The Canon of Medicine (Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb)
"The more you study, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you forget. The more you forget, the less you know. So why study?"
— from Attributed, often as a humorous paradox
All quotes by Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (356)
The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes.
Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hatred, and hatred leads to violence. This is the equation.
The more you know, the more you realize you don't know.
Medicine is a science from which one learns the states of the human body in health and disease, in order to preserve health when it exists and restore it when it has been lost.
The world is divided into men who have brains and no religion, and men who have religion and no brains.
The physician should have his thoughts on the patient, not on the disease.
The soul, by its very nature, is a simple substance, not composed of parts, and therefore cannot be corrupted or destroyed.
An ignorant doctor is a danger to his patients.
The purpose of medicine is to preserve health and to cure disease.
The human body is a machine, and the soul is its driver.
The mind is the master of the body.
The best way to learn is to teach.
The physician must be able to recognize the signs of disease and to interpret them correctly.
The soul is not in the body as water is in a cup, but as light is in the air.
The more difficult the task, the greater the reward.
The physician must be patient and compassionate.
The soul is the perfection of the body.
The greatest wealth is health.
The physician should be a friend to the patient.
The soul is immortal and imperishable.
Contemporaries of Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
Other Medicines born within 50 years of Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980–1037).