Rudolf Virchow
The 'father of modern pathology,' he emphasized that diseases arise from changes in cells, not humors.
Most quoted
"The cell is the ultimate morphological unit in which there is any manifestation of life, and we must not imagine that it is a mere aggregation of elementary particles."
— from Die Cellularpathologie in ihrer Begründung auf physiologische und pathologische Gewebelehre, 1858
"The improvement of medicine would eventually prolong human life, but improvement of social conditions could achieve this result more rapidly and more successfully."
"The characteristic feature of all infectious diseases is that they are caused by the transfer of a living agent from a diseased to a healthy individual."
All quotes by Rudolf Virchow (361)
Politics is medicine on a grand scale.
Every cell comes from a cell.
Science knows no country.
The stomach is the only organ that can rebel against the brain.
Disease is the tax which the soul pays for the body.
In the development of the individual, the first stage is the cellular; the second, the tissue; the third, the organ; the fourth, the system.
The great unacknowledged virtue of the medical profession is its capacity for self-criticism.
Revolutions in science seldom result from the accumulation of facts, but rather from the creative imagination of great men.
The history of medicine is the history of humanity.
To know the history of medicine is to know the history of civilization.
The pathologist's microscope is his scalpel.
In politics, as in medicine, prevention is better than cure.
The soul of man is immortal and imperishable.
Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.
The brain is wider than the sky.
Hygiene is the first chapter in the gospel of health.
The doctor's mission is to heal the body and comfort the soul.
Science advances one funeral at a time.
The cell is the unit of life.
Politics begins where medicine ends.
Contemporaries of Rudolf Virchow
Other Medicines born within 50 years of Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902).