20th-century Physician Quotes

Great discoveries are like catastrophes of nature, a mixture of destruction and beneficence. After the misery of the overthrow comes the glory of building up.

Within infinite myths lies the Eternal Truth Who sees it all? Varuna has but a thousand eyes Indra, a hundred And I, only two

Devdutt Pattanaik

Knowledge of constitution is the key for a holistic and integral health care, the true basis of any preventative medicine.

In science there are collectors, classifiers, compulsory tidiers-up and permanent contesters, detectives, some artists and many artisans, there are poet-scientists and philosophers and even a few mystics.

Rolf M. Zinkernagel

NCI now actually anticipates further increases, and not decreases, in cancer mortality rates, from 171/100,000 in 1984 to 175/100,000 by the year 2000!

In recent years biochemistry — the chemistry of life — has come more and more into the foreground of biological research. This is natural since chemical reactions are at the bottom of all life.

Our attitudes, opinions, beliefs and judgments are, simply put, our attitudes, opinions, beliefs and judgments. They are not universal truths.

Robert J. White

By the intelligent application of antimosquito measures combined with vaccination, public-health officials have now the means available to render what was once a prevalent epidemic disease to one which is now a comparatively rare infection of man.

The true physician has a Shakespearean breadth of interest in the wise and the foolish, the proud and the humble, the stoic hero and the whining rouge. He cares for people.

Tinsley R. Harrison

I have a philosophy, you do the best you can, and the things you can't do anything about, don't give any thought to them. … I feel I have to make a contribution. When I was doing surgery, I made it by operating. Now I try to make it by speaking about preventive medicine.

Ellsworth Wareham

I am convinced that the attitude we cultivate in advance may well determine how suffering will affect us when it does strike.

I must remember the things I have seen. I must keep them fresh in memory, see them again in my mind's eye, live through them again and again in my thoughts. And most of all, I must make good use of them in tomorrow's life.

Thomas Anthony Dooley III

There's nothing like a little physical pain to keep your mind off your emotional problems.

We have yet to beat our drums for birth control in the way we beat them for polio vaccine. We are still unable to put babies in the class of dangerous epidemics, even though this is the exact truth.

It is true that the sky was always beautiful but I don't remember marvelling at sunset or gazing at the dawn of a new day. Survival does not allow time for poetic reflection.

Izzeldin Abuelaish

Food compulsion isn't a character disorder; it's a chemical disorder.

Robert Atkins (nutritionist)

While nervous tension may be a component of stress, one can be stressed without feeling tension.

Gabor Maté (physician)

It is my honor to serve as President-elect Trump's Secretary of Veterans Affairs, President-elect Trump's commitment to caring for our veterans is unquestionable, and he is eager to support the best practices for care and provide our Veterans Affairs' teams with the resources they need to improve health outcomes. We are both eager to begin reforming the areas in our Veterans Affairs system that need critical attention, and do it in a swift, thoughtful and responsible way.

Two out of every three deaths are premature; they are related to loafer's heart, smoker's lungs and drinker's liver.

Hour after hour, they shouted at me, accused me, insulted me and members of my family.

No matter how good you are, you cannot be a scientist unless you learn to live with frustration.

Ceremony and ritual spring from our heart of hearts: those who govern us know it well, for they would sooner deny us bread than dare alter the observance of tradition.

F. Gonzalez-Crussi

I have been studying inherited susceptibility of cancer through affected families. The goal is to identify genes that are involved in cancer development.

Frederick Pei Li

It is clear today that a pediatrician must also be an educator. And surely there is joy in both tasks, as they are the most wonderful that can be imagined. We are entrusted with the care of the child, a fresh young creature who before our very eyes thrives and grows, one may even say flowers. It is given to us to accompany him from day to day and from hour to hour, from childhood to youth and adolescence along a shining and upward path. It is given to us to impart to him not only what is defined as the task as education - the culture passed down throughout the generations - but also health, strength and joy of life.

Aron Brand Auraban

It is urgent and important to legalize universal blood transfusion by immune adoption.

In French: Il est urgent et important de légaliser la transfusion sanguine universelle par adoption immunitaire