Hippocrates — "Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick,…"
Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption.
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 body is a temple, and the soul is its inhabitant."
"When a fever is present, the bowels should be loose; when absent, they should be costive."
"Fasting is the greatest remedy – the physician within."
"The love of wisdom is the mother of all good things."
"Men ought to know that from nothing else but thence (from the brain) come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations."
Details
From the Hippocratic Oath, outlining ethical conduct for physicians.
Date: c. 460-370 BCE
WisdomVerification
Unverifiable
Found in 1 providers: gemini
1 source checked
Understanding this quote
What it means
A physician pledges to enter every patient's home with one purpose only: healing. They promise never to exploit the access and trust that illness creates — no manipulation, no abuse of vulnerability. Doctors must put patient welfare first and refuse to use their position of power for personal gain or harm. The sick are vulnerable; this oath demands that vulnerability never be weaponized against them.
Relevance to Hippocrates
Hippocrates (~460–370 BC) built medicine into a systematic, ethical discipline on the island of Cos, separating it from religion and superstition. He believed a physician's character was inseparable from their practice. This line from the Hippocratic Oath he codified reflects his foundational conviction: medicine is a moral covenant, not merely a craft. His insistence on written case histories and rational observation over prayer reflects the same patient-centered ethos.
The era
In ancient Greece, healers routinely visited patients in private homes with unrestricted access to the household, including women and slaves who had no legal protections. Medicine was entangled with temple healing and wandering charlatans who exploited the desperate. Hippocrates's explicit oath against mischief and corruption addressed real abuses — sexual exploitation, poisoning for hire, financial predation — distinguishing legitimate physicians from frauds in an era with no regulatory bodies or licensing.
AI-generated insights based on extensive research and information for context. Factual errors? Email [email protected].