Ignaz Semmelweis
Discovered that handwashing could drastically reduce the incidence of puerperal fever, though his findings were initially rejected.
Most quoted
"When I look back upon the past, I see the error of my ways, but I also see the error of the ways of my opponents. I see that I was too impatient, too impetuous, too unyielding. But I also see that they were too blind, too prejudiced, too obstinate."
— from Reflections on his career
"Puerperal fever is a blood poisoning caused by the absorption of putrid organic matter, originating from cadaveric particles, into the blood of the parturient woman."
— from Die Ätiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers, 1861
"I have discovered the cause of puerperal fever, and it is nothing but the cadaveric particles adhering to the hands of the examining physicians and students."
— from Letter to Professor Skoda, 1847
All quotes by Ignaz Semmelweis (353)
I have seen enough death to know that it is not always God's will.
They laugh at me now, but they will thank me later.
It is easier to believe a lie that one has heard a thousand times than to believe a truth that one has never heard before.
The medical profession is a graveyard of good intentions.
I am not a prophet, I am a physician.
The hand that delivers life should not deliver death.
They say I am obsessed, but I say I am dedicated.
The greatest tragedy in science is the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.
I have fought against the current, and I have been bruised, but I have not been broken.
The truth will out, even if it has to drag itself out of the grave.
They call it progress, I call it regression.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
I would rather be right than popular.
The path to enlightenment is often paved with ridicule.
They say I am a troublemaker, but I say I am a truth-teller.
My legacy will be written in the lives I saved, not in the accolades I received.
They say I am a madman, but I say I am a visionary.
The most dangerous lie is the one you tell yourself.
I have seen the future, and it is clean.
The medical establishment is a fortress of ignorance, but even fortresses can fall.
Contemporaries of Ignaz Semmelweis
Other Medicines born within 50 years of Ignaz Semmelweis (1818–1865).