Inspiring Quotes for Nurses: A Heartfelt Collection

"Nurses are a unique kind. They have this insatiable need to care for others, which is both their greatest strength and fatal flaw."

- Jean Watson

"The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm."

- Florence Nightingale

"Nurses are the heart of healthcare."

- Donna Wilk Cardillo, MA, RN, CSP

"For the sick it is important to have the best."

- Florence Nightingale

"You treat a disease: you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you win—no matter the outcome."

- Robin Williams in Patch Adams

"A nurse will always give us hope, an angel with a stethoscope."

- Carrie Latet

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts."

- Florence Nightingale

"As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the mind, soul, heart, and body of our patients. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

- Maya Angelou

"Our job as nurses is to cushion the sorrow and celebrate the job, every day, while we are ‘just doing our jobs.’"

- Christine Belle

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring; all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

- Leo Buscaglia

"It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing."

- Mother Teresa

"Most of all, you need moral courage because nursing is about the pursuit of justice. It requires you to stand up to bullies, to do things that are right but difficult, and to speak your mind even when you are afraid. I wasn’t strong like this when I started out. Nursing made me strong."

- Tilda Shalof

"Nurses — one of the few blessings of being ill."

- Sara Moss-Wolfe

"As a nurse we have the opportunity to heal the mind, soul, heart, and body of our patients. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

- Maya Angelou

"Nurses are there when the last breath is taken, and nurses are there when the first breath is taken. Although it is more enjoyable to celebrate the birth, it is just as important to comfort in death."

- Christine Bell

"When I think about all the patients and their loved ones I have worked with over the years, I know most of them don’t remember me, nor I, them. But I do know that I gave a little piece of myself to each of them, and they to me, and those threads make up the tapestry that is my career in nursing."

- Donna Wilk Cardillo, MA, RN, CSP

"Every nurse was drawn to nursing because of a desire to care, to serve, or to help."

- Christina Feist-Heilmeier, RN

"Let us never consider ourselves finished, nurses. We must be learning all of our lives."

- Florence Nightingale

"Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier."

- Mother Teresa

"How very little can be done under the spirit of fear."

- Florence Nightingale

"I attribute my success to this:—I never gave or took an excuse."

- Florence Nightingale

"Nursing is not just an art, it has a heart. Nursing is not just a science, but it has a conscience."

- Donna Wilk Cardillo

"Being a nurse means to hold all your own tears and start drawing smiles on people’s faces."

- Dana Basem

"A caress, a smile, is full of meaning for one who is sick. It is a simple gesture, but encouraging; he or she feels accompanied, feels closer to being healed, feels like a person, not a number."

- Pope Francis

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest accomplishment or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

- Leo Buscaglia

"Nursing is the finest art: It requires not only scientific knowledge and skills but also qualities such as patience, compassion, and dedication."

- Linda Richards

"Kindness can transform someone's dark moment with a blaze of light. You'll never know how much your caring matters. Make a difference for another today."

- Amy Leigh Mercree

"Caring is the essence of nursing."

- Jean Watson

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation as any painter’s or sculptor’s work."

- Florence Nightingale

"A caress, a smile, is full of meaning for one who is sick. It is a simple gesture, but encouraging, he or she feels accompanied, feels closer to being healed, feels like a person, not a number."

- Pope Francis

"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; that is to have succeeded."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can, in spite of all we go through, is to be a nurse."

- Rawsi Williams

"Let us never consider ourselves finished, nurses… we must be learning all of our lives."

- Florence Nightingale

"Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon."

- Dag Hammarskjold

"Nurses are always there; you care for us from the earliest years. You look after us in our happiest and saddest times. And for many, you look after us and our families at the end of our lives. Your dedication and professionalism are awe-inspiring."

- Duchess Kate Middleton

"I did not think of going to give myself a position, but for the sake of common humanity."

- Florence Nightingale

"It would not be possible to praise nurses too highly."

- Stephen Ambrose

"The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life for the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, a means of locomotion for the infant, the knowledge and confidence of the young mother, and a voice for those too weak to speak."

- Virginia Henderson

"Let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy; I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it."

- Art Williams

"The doctors may be mapping out the war games, but it is the nurses who make the conflict bearable."

- Jodi Picoult

"The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest."

- William Osler

"America’s nurses are the beating heart of our medical system."

- Barack Obama

"Nursing is one of the fine arts: I had almost said ‘the finest of fine arts.’"

- Florence Nightingale

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway."

- Earl Nightingale

"I never dreamed about success—I worked for it."

- Estée Lauder

"Nothing will work unless you do."

- Maya Angelou

"When I think about all the patients and their loved ones I have worked with over the years, I know most of them don't remember me, nor I them. But I do know that I gave a little piece of myself to each of them, and they to me, and those threads make up the tapestry that is my career in nursing."

- Donna Wilk Cardillo

"I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it."

- Art Williams

"Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion."

- Florence Nightingale

"Panic plays no part in the training of a nurse."

- Elizabeth Kenny

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

- Nelson Mandela

"Although your educational journey may be difficult at times, you will reap the reward of utmost satisfaction when holding your nursing diploma for the first time—and nothing will ever compare to the fulfillment that improving and saving the lives of others will bring!"

- Mikhail Shneyder

"Our fingerprints don’t fade from the lives we touch."

- Judy Blume

"If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For passion will lead you right into your purpose."

- Bishop T.D. Jakes

"Nurses—one of the few blessings of being ill."

- Sara Moss-Wolfe

"To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand."

- Vince Lombardi

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle."

- Plato

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this something, at whatever cost, must be attained."

- Marie Curie

"The character of the nurse is as important as the knowledge she possesses."

- Carolyn Jarvis

"Happiness…consists of giving, and in serving others."

- Henry Drummond

"Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts."

- Charles Dickens

"Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on Earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling."

- Vincent Van Gogh

"Success comes to those who are too busy to look for it."

- Henry David Thoreau

"We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated."

- Maya Angelou

"So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself."

- Florence Nightingale

"The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head."

- Sir William Osler

"Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for fewer problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom."

- Earl Shoaf

"To do what nobody else will do, a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; that is to be a nurse."

- Rawsi Williams

"Nurses are the hospitality of the hospital."

- Carrie Latet

"I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them."

- Clara Barton

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

- Steve Jobs

"I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy. I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it."

- Art Williams

"Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen every day."

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston Churchill

"Happiness … consists of giving, and in serving others."

- Henry Drummond

"Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestation of strength and resolution."

- Kahlil Gibran

"We are each made for goodness, love, and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live with these truths."

- Desmond Tutu

"Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

- St. Francis of Assisi

"I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people."

- Maya Angelou

"Work for a cause, not for applause. Live life to express, not to impress. Don’t strive to make your presence noticed; just make your presence felt."

- Grace Lichtenstein

"Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation."

- Aristotle

"There no longer has to be a difference between who you are and what you do."

- Gary Vaynerchuk

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

- Voltaire

"It’s okay to learn from every experience, and it’s okay to make mistakes."

- Louise Hay

"And what nursing has to do in either case is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him."

- Florence Nightingale

"I attribute my success to this; I never gave nor took any excuse."

- Florence Nightingale

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

- Steve Jobs

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose."

- Dr. Seuss

"God appoints our graces to be NURSES to other men’s weaknesses."

- Henry Ward Beecher

"Just so you know, doctors are here to diagnose, not heal. We heal."

- Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie

"Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth."

- Muhammad Ali

"The longer I’m in the profession, the more experiences shape my life, the more amazing colleagues influence me, the more I see the micro and macro power of nursing."

- Joni Watson

"May we hope that, when we are all dead and gone, leaders will arise who have been personally experienced in the hard, practical work, the difficulties, and the joys of organizing nursing reforms and who will lead far beyond anything we have done!"

- Florence Nightingale

"Never underestimate the healing effects of beauty."

- Florence Nightingale

"Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny."

- Mahatma Ghandi

"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away."

- Pablo Picasso

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

- Benjamin Spock

"I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results."

- Florence Nightingale

"Work hard, stay positive, and get up early. It’s the best part of the day."

- George Allen, Sr.

"Nursing is one of the fine arts: I had almost said ‘the finest of fine arts."

- Florence Nightingale

"If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone."

- John Maxwell

"Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow."

- Anthony J. D’Angelo

"Hardships often prepare people for an extraordinary destiny."

- C.S. Lewis

"Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere."

- Chinese proverb

"It’s okay to learn from every experience, and it’s okay to make mistakes"

- Louise Hay

"Confidence is not ‘they will like me,’ confidence is “I’ll be fine if they don’t.” Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them."

- T. Harv Eker

"I am only one, but still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something. I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."

- E.E. Hale

"Forgive yourself, you are not perfect. Show yourself grace; you are still learning. Show yourself patience; you are on a journey."

- Shannon Yvette Tanner

"The world is put back by the death of everyone who has to sacrifice the development of his or her peculiar gifts to conventionality."

- Florence Nightingale

"I didn't want just any career, so I am not going to be just any nurse."

- Denise Richards

"The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists."

- Japanese Proverb

"Your heart is the size of an ocean. Go find yourself in its hidden depths."

- Rumi

"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence."

- Henry David Thoreau

"We have been dying since we got here and forgot to enjoy the view – live fully."

- Rupi Kaur

"The wound is the place where the light enters you."

- Rumi

"The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age."

- Lucille Ball

"I am among those who think that science has great beauty."

- Marie Curie

"If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything."

- Win Borden

"I am dying with the help of too many physicians."

- Alexander the Great

"Once a nurse, always a nurse. No matter where you go or what you do, you can never truly get out of nursing. It’s like the Mafia… you know too much."

- Deb Gaudlin, RN

"How can anybody hate nurses? Nobody hates nurses. The only time you hate a nurse is when they’re giving you an enema."

- Warren Beatty

"Nursing would be a dream job, if there were no doctors."

- Gerhard Kocher

"You can tell when a patient is feeling better when she starts to wear makeup."

- Jen O’Keefe

"Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings."

- Salvador Dali

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

- Confucius

"Save one life, you’re a hero. Save 100 lives, you’re a nurse."

- Unknown

"A nurse is one who opens the eyes of a newborn and gently closes the eyes of a dying man. It is indeed a high blessing to be the first and last to witness the beginning and end of life."

- Unknown

"A nurse is not what you do. It is what you are…I am a nurse. It’s not what I do, it’s what I am."

- Unknown

"When you’re a nurse, you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch yours."

- Unknown

"Sometimes I inspire my patients; more often they inspire me."

- Unknown

"Not all angels have wings…some have scrubs."

- Unknown

"Treat the patient as a whole, not just the hole in the patient."

- Unknown

"Sometimes I inspire my patients; more often, they inspire me."

- Unknown

"Be the nurse you would want as a patient."

"Value what you do and add value by what you do."

- Unknown

"Care for one...that's love. Care for hundreds...that's nursing."

"When you feel like quitting, remember why you started."

"It's a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together."

"Every day may not be wonderful, but there is something wonderful in every day."

"Forgive yourself; you are not perfect. Show yourself grace; you are still learning. Show yourself patience; you are on a journey."

- Unknown

"Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription."

"If you walk a mile in a nurses shoes, you’ll walk a whole lot farther than a mile, and your back will kill you at the end."

"3 AM: the time when you remember you forgot to chart that thing, bring that lady her water, or pass that med."

"A new nurse gets scared when a doctor yells. An old nurse yells back."

"Nurses can’t fix crazy, all they can do is document it."

"Why yes I do marathons. It’s called 12.5+ hour nurse shift run 3 times a week."

"Being a nurse is weird: I can keep a poker face through trauma, but have a mental breakdown over losing my favorite pen."

"The 3 words most people want to hear: ‘I love you.’ The 3 words nurses want to hear: ‘Alert, Oriented, and Ambulatory."

"When I heard 2020 was going to be the year of the nurse, this is not what I expected…"

"Nurse: the first person you see after saying, ‘Hold my beer and watch this!’"

"Don’t let anyone treat you like an expired 24 butterfly gauge. You are a #16 in the left forearm with excellent venous return!"

"You know you’re a nurse when your finger has gone places you never thought possible."

"Not all angels have wings...some have scrubs."

"It’s the new nurses who aren’t scared that worry me"

"How many nurses does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None! They delegate it to the nursing student."

"May your cup runneth over, unless it’s that urine specimen cup you’re trying to hand me."

"Be nice to me… I may be your nurse someday and remember…catheters and needles come in sizes that I choose!"

"I’m a nurse—nothing scares me."

"No, I will not rub your feet. I am a nurse, not a masseur."

"I’m a nurse because ‘miracle worker’ isn’t an official title."

"Sometimes I have to remind myself around my non-nurse friends not to talk about bodily functions."

"Remember, I’m a nurse. You’re going to have to say a lot to gross me out."

"You know you work in healthcare when you can discuss puke and bowel movements at the lunch table and no one flinches."

"Nursing is not a career … it’s a post-apocalyptic survival skill."

"I’ve come to the realization that I’ll touch anything as long as I have gloves on."

"I’m a nurse. What’s your superpower?"

"Hand sanitizer has started to become your best friend."

"Don’t mess with me—I get paid to stab people with sharp objects."

"Yes, I am a nurse. No, I don’t want to look at it."

"No, RN does not stand for ‘Refreshments and Narcotics."

"Not all angels have wings … some have scrubs."

"Nursing school is a lot like giving birth… Once it’s over, you tend to forget just how painful the process really was."

"While that’s correct… it’s not the most correct. This is nursing school."

"The definition of a nurse: To go above and beyond the call of duty. The first to work and the last to leave. The heart and soul of caring. who will pass through your life for a minute and impact it for an eternity. An empowered individual whom you may meet for only a 12-hour period, but who will put you and yours above theirs."

"When someone is going through a storm, your silent presence is more powerful than a million empty words."

"Nurse: just another word to describe a person strong enough to tolerate anything and soft enough to understand anyone."

"It’s a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together."

"Laughter is the best medicine… except when treating diarrhea."

"Nurses can’t fix stupid… but we can sedate it."

"I love being a nurse, but I mostly love wearing scrubs. They’re basically professional pajamas."

"Be nice to your nurse. They dispense happy pills"

"Every nurse has a best friend, Pam: LorazePAM, DiazePAM, and ClonazePAM."

"The nurse that can smile when things go wrong… is probably going off duty."

"I came, I cared, I charted"

"You think Mondays are bad? Try working weekends, holidays and 12 hour nights"

"Laughter is not the best medicine… Propofol is!"

"Showering won’t be enough after today. I’ll need to be autoclave."

"Be nice to the nurses, we keep the doctor from accidentally killing you."

"TGIF? Sorry, not familiar with that term. I’m a nurse."

"You know you’re a nurse if you can drink a pot of coffee and go directly to sleep."

"I’m one shift away from developing a drug habit."

"Full-time drug dealer. Just one of my many talents."

"Yes, I’m a nurse. I stab people for a living!"

"Sleep all day, nurse all night."

"It’s really nice when patients call me nurse, instead of, “hey”!"

"What would I do without the patient’s family members telling me how to do my job?"

"If I collapse at work, here is a list of doctors that I don’t want working on me!"

"Not saying I’m a big deal, but the government classifies me as essential."

"May your scrubs be comfy, your coffee be strong, and your Monday be short."