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 soul, when it leaves the body, is not extinguished, but rather it returns to its origin, which is God.
The human soul is a spiritual substance, simple and indivisible, which is not subject to generation or corruption.
Truth is what is in conformity with reality, and reality is what is in conformity with the divine intellect.
Beauty is the splendor of truth.
The purpose of human life is to attain knowledge of God and to act in accordance with His will.
Ignorance is the cause of all evil, and knowledge is the cause of all good.
The wise man is he who knows himself, and he who knows himself knows his Lord.
The soul is like a mirror, and the world is like a face. When the mirror is clean, the face is reflected clearly.
The highest good is the contemplation of God.
The human being is a microcosm, reflecting the macrocosm.
Death is not an end, but a transition from one state of being to another.
The intellect is the noblest part of the soul, and it is through the intellect that we attain knowledge of God.
Happiness is the result of living in accordance with reason and virtue.
The universe is a book, and its letters are the creatures of God.
The true physician is he who cures the soul before the body.
The greatest good is to know God, and the greatest evil is to be ignorant of Him.
The human being is a journey, not a destination.
The soul is a divine spark, placed in the body for a short time.
The world is a stage, and we are merely players.
The intellect is the eye of the soul.
Contemporaries of Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
Other Medicines born within 50 years of Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980–1037).