68 Inspirational Doctor Quotes to Motivate and Inspire Healthcare Professionals

"...let me congratulate you on the choice of calling which offers a combination of intellectual and moral interests found in no other profession."

- William Osler

"The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease."

- William Osler

"Wherever the art of Medicine is loved, there is also a love of Humanity."

- Hippocrates

"In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in giving health to men."

- Cicero

"Medicines can cure diseases, but only doctors can cure patients."

- Carl Jung

"Medicine cures diseases, but only doctors can cure patients."

- Carl Jung

"The awe of discovering the human body. The honor of being trusted to give advice. The gratitude for helping someone through a difficult illness. These things never grow old."

- Danielle Ofri

"He is the best physician who is the most ingenious inspirer of hope."

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"[Being a doctor] offers the most complete and constant union of those three qualities which have the greatest charm for pure and active minds – novelty, utility, and charity."

- Sir James Paget

"Always remember the privilege it is to be a physician."

- Daniel P. Logan

"I remember the feeling of joy, almost to tears, the day I discharged my first patient from the hospital and the tears that I can never hold back during the miracle of birth. That feeling is reward for our hard work here [in medical school] and in years that follow... I can't imagine being a doctor without it... I ask you to recall the vigor and happiness of our youths and then, imagine the beauty of that energy channeled into the care of another human being."

- John-Paul H. Dedam MD

"During my college life, I learnt that [Medicine is not a career], but a love for humanity"

- Kate Ackert

"I remind my fellows, residents and medical students that what we do is a privilege. People let us into the most intimate aspects of their lives, and they look to us to help guide them through very complex and delicate situations."

- Shikha Jain, MD

"I always tell my residents to never forget that we have the opportunity to do more good in one day than most people have in a month."

- Dr. William R. Francis

"People pay the doctor for his trouble; for his kindness they still remain in his debt."

- Seneca

"Whoever saves the life of one person, it shall be as if he had saved the life of mankind."

- Quran

"Those who choose to become doctors do it because they have to heal."

- Alexandra Fuller

"Let the young know they will never find a more interesting, more instructive book than the patient himself."

- Giorgio Baglivi

"[As a doctor] people will trust you, confide in you, and appreciate your efforts. You can do amazing things for people if you don't let the system get you down."

- Dr. Wes Fischer

"Observation, Reason, Human Understanding, Courage; these make the physician."

- Martin H. Fischer

"The simple act of caring is heroic."

- Edward Albert

"The purpose of the doctor or any human, in general, should not be to simply delay the death of the patient but to increase the quality of life."

- Patch Adams

"Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile."

- Albert Einstein

"I would still 'do it again' despite all the difficulty of training and roadblocks to just practice medicine. Truly is worth it!"

- James A. Bowden, MD

"From caring comes courage."

- Lao Tzu

"To study the phenomena of disease without books is to sail an uncharted sea, while to study books without patients is not to go to sea at all."

- William Osler

"Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity."

- Hippocrates

"Wear the white coat with dignity and pride—it is an honor and privilege to get to serve the public as a physician."

- Bill H. Warren

"As doctors, we are not trained to communicate and understand the power of our words as it is related to patient's ability and desire to survive"

- Bernie Siegel

"The aim of medicine is to prevent disease and prolong life; the ideal of medicine is to eliminate the need of a physician."

- William J. Mayo

"They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

- Maya Angelou

"In our job, you will never go home at the end of the day thinking that you haven't done something valuable and important."

- Suneel Dhand

"While the journey seems long and hard at the beginning with perseverance and dedication the rewards at the end last a lifetime."

- Dr. William R. Francis

"The doctors of the future will give no medicine but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet and in cause and prevention of disease."

- Thomas Edison

"Medicine is only for those who cannot imagine doing anything else"

- Luanda Grazette

"Sometimes, the best thing we can do for our patients is to tell them what the best behavior is and then negotiate something they can live with."

- Nancy Dickey

"The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."

- Voltaire

"The life so short, the craft so long to learn."

- Hippocrates

"As a caregiver, you see selfless acts everyday."

- Dr. Raj Panjabi

"You [future doctors] are off to an amazing, rewarding and exciting life."

- Major W. Bradshaw, MD

"Do as much as possible for the patient, and as little as possible to the patient."

- Sigmund Freud

"There are only two sorts of doctors: those who practice with their brains, and those who practice with their tongues."

- William Osler

"We practice medicine that our historical ancestors could only dream of, and we have access to amazing treatments and cures for our patients on a daily basis."

- Dr. William R. Francis

"The best doctors give the least medicine."

- Benjamin Franklin

"I have had dreams and I have had nightmares, but I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams."

- Jonas Salk

"A doctor must work eighteen hours a day and seven days a week. If you cannot console yourself to this, get out of this profession."

- Martin H. Fischer

"Medicine really matured me as a person because, as a physician, you're obviously dealing with life and death issues… if you can handle that, you can handle anything."

- Ken Jeong, MD

"Physicians and patients need to work together to pursue care that [improves health], avoid harm and eliminate wasteful practices."

- Dr. Amir Qaseem

"Each patient carries his own doctor inside him."

- Norman Cousins

"Patients who trust their doctors and have a psychological expectation of getting better could trigger a reaction in their body."

- Irving Krisch

"When a man goes through six years [training to be a doctor], he will not be the same. He knows too much."

- Enid Bagnold

"Out of your vulnerabilities will come your strength."

- Sigmund Freud

"To solve a difficult problem in medicine, don't study it directly, but rather pursue a curiosity about nature and the rest will follow. Do basic research."

- Roger Kornberg, PhD

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."

- Albert Pujols

"You need to get a good bedside manner with doctors or you will get nowhere"

- William S. Burroughs

"True health care reform cannot happen in Washington. It has to happen in our kitchens, in our homes, in our communities. All health care is personal."

- Mehmet Oz

"There is no such thing as an infallible doctor"

- Edward E Rosenbaum

"When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge."

- Arthur Conan Doyle

"One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened often."

- Erich Fromm

"Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do."

- Benjamin Spock

"Medicine heals doubt as well as medicine."

- Karl Marx

"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism"

- William Osler

"We get out of life what we put into it. The way we treat others is the way we ourselves get treated."

- Ben Carson

"Science has everything to say about what is possible. Science has nothing to say about what is permissible."

- Charles Krauthammer

"The doctor of the future will be oneself"

- Albert Schweitzer

"Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation."

- C. Everett Koop

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves."

- Carl Jung

"Though the doctors treated him, let his blood, and gave him medications to drink, he nevertheless recovered."

- Leo Tolstoy