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 pursuit of truth is the highest aim of man.
The body is a complex machine.
The physician must be a person of integrity.
The universe is governed by laws.
The greatest virtue is wisdom.
The physician must be a good communicator.
The human mind is a powerful tool.
The goal of life is to achieve happiness.
The physician must be a person of empathy.
The world is a place of constant change.
The physician must be a person of patience.
The human spirit is indomitable.
The physician must be a person of courage.
The universe is a reflection of God's wisdom.
The greatest gift is life itself.
The physician must be a person of hope.
The human heart is capable of great love.
The physician must be a person of faith.
The ignorant man is one who does not know that he is ignorant.
I prefer a short life with width to a narrow life with length.
Contemporaries of Avicenna (Ibn Sina)
Other Medicines born within 50 years of Avicenna (Ibn Sina) (980–1037).