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 ultimate goal of philosophy is to know God.
The human being is a bridge between the spiritual and the material worlds.
Death is a return to the source.
The soul is the essence of the human being.
The purpose of life is to prepare for the afterlife.
The world is a school, and we are its students.
The greatest wisdom is to know that you know nothing.
The soul is a prisoner in the body.
The world is a dream, and the afterlife is the awakening.
The intellect is the guide of the soul.
The true life is the life of the spirit.
The human being is a seeker of truth.
Death is a release from the bonds of the body.
The soul is a divine breath.
The meaning of life is to find meaning in life.
The intellect is the highest faculty of the human being.
The world is a fleeting shadow.
The soul is the source of all knowledge.
The ultimate reality is God.
The human being is a marvel of creation.
Contemporaries of Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
Other Medicines born within 50 years of Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980–1037).