Hippocrates — "The greatest wealth is health."
The greatest wealth is health.
Get This Quote & Author's Image Illustrated On:
Click any product to generate a realistic preview. Up to 3 at a time.
* Initial load can take up to 90 seconds — revising the preview in another color is nearly instant.
Kitchen
Apparel
Other
More from Hippocrates
"The best diet is that which is most simple."
"The best way to preserve health is to avoid disease."
"For it is not the physician who cures, but nature, who is the physician of diseases."
"Desperate diseases require desperate remedies."
"Cure sometimes, treat often and comfort always."
Verification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: gemini
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
True prosperity is not money or possessions but a body that functions well. Without physical health, you cannot enjoy, pursue, or sustain anything else you value. Wealth buys comfort but cannot purchase a sound body once it is lost. This reframes what people should prioritize and protect above all other ambitions or acquisitions in life.
Relevance to Hippocrates
Hippocrates dedicated his life to medicine when most illness was attributed to gods or spirits. He systematically observed the body, diet, and environment as foundations of wellbeing. As the Father of Medicine, he treated health as the supreme human condition worth studying and preserving, making this statement the philosophical cornerstone of his entire professional mission and legacy.
The era
In ancient Greece around 400 BCE, disease was widely blamed on divine punishment or supernatural forces. Wealth meant land, slaves, and military power. Hippocrates practiced amid city-states constantly at war, with plagues regularly decimating populations. His insistence that health surpassed material wealth was radical, redirecting Greek society toward natural medicine, rational observation, and personal responsibility for bodily care.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].