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)
The true physician is the one who practices what he preaches.
Life's greatest tragedy is not death, but a life without purpose.
In the laboratory, truth is discovered; in the clinic, it is applied.
The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
Social medicine is the future of healthcare.
Every organ in the body has its own intelligence.
The mind cures all diseases.
Revolution is the midwife of history.
The microscope reveals what the eye cannot see.
Happiness is the highest form of health.
The wise man prevents illness; the fool waits for it.
Cells divide, but knowledge multiplies.
The body politic suffers from the same diseases as the human body.
In the end, we will conserve only what we love.
Pathology teaches us the secrets of life.
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.
Life is too short to waste on illness.
The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician.
On my deathbed: I have lived for science and humanity.
Where a cell exists, there must have been a pre-existing cell, just as an animal arises only from an animal and a plant only from a plant.
Contemporaries of Rudolf Virchow
Other Medicines born within 50 years of Rudolf Virchow (1821–1902).