100+ Inspirational Nursing Quotes to Motivate and Uplift Every Nurse

"“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

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

- Carolyn Jarvis

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

- Florence Nightingale

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

- Florence Nightingale

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

- Elizabeth Kenny

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

- Florence Nightingale

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

- Florence Nightingale

"“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

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

- Mahatma Gandhi

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

- William Osler

"“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

"“Never underestimate the healing effects of beauty.”"

- Florence Nightingale

"“Nurses are the hospitality of the hospital.”"

- Carrie Latet

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

- Jodi Picoult

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

- Christina Feist-Heilmeier

"“Caring is the essence of nursing.”"

- Jean Watson

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

- Florence Nightingale

"“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

"“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

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

- Florence Nightingale

"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

"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

"Nothing will work unless you do."

- Maya Angelou

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

- Nelson Mandela

"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

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

- Anthony J. D'Angelo

"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

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

- Virginia Henderson, RN

"“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 Gandhi

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

- Barack Obama

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

- Jean Watson

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

- Shannon Yvette Tanner

"You may forget my name, but you will never forget how I made you feel."

- Maya Angelou

"Nurses are the heart of healthcare."

- Donna Wilk Cardillo, MA, RN, CSP

"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

"Caring for others is an expression of what it means to be fully human."

- Elizabeth McGowan

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

- Carrie Latet

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

- Florence Nightingale

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

- Mother Teresa

"Caring is the essence of nursing."

- Jean Watson

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

- Christina Feist-Heilmeier, RN

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

- Judy Blume

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

- Christine Belle

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

- Dana Basem

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

- Robin Williams, Patch Adams

"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

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

- Mahatma Gandhi

"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

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

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

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

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

"What you do makes a difference. And you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

- Jane Goodall

"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

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

- Florence Nightingale

"What angels are to the sad, nurses are to the sick."

- Amit Kalantri

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

- Dag Hammarskjold

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

- William Osler

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

- Florence Nightingale

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

- Mother Teresa

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

- Earl Nightingale

"Hardships often prepare people for an extraordinary destiny."

- C.S. Lewis

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

- Art Williams

"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

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

- Plato

"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

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

- Maya Angelou

"“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

"“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

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

- Winston Churchill

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

- Sara Moss-Wolfe

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

- Oliver Goldsmith

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

- Florence Nightingale

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

- Pablo Picasso

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

- Sara Moss-Wolfe

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

- Estée Lauder

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

- Aristotle

"Knowing is better than wondering, waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worst, beats the hell out of never trying."

- Grey’s Anatomy

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

- Plato

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

- Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie

"There are only four kinds of people in the world. Those who have been caregivers. Those who are currently caregivers. Those who will be caregivers, and those who will need a caregiver."

- Rosalynn Carter

"“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

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

- Rumi

"Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway."

- Emory Austin

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

- Dr. Seuss

"“Fill your mind with truth. Fill your heart with love. Fill your life with service.”"

- Vaughn J. Featherstone

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

- Aristotle

"In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity."

- Albert Einstein

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

- Henry David Thoreau

"To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides."

- David Viscott

"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

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

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

"Save one life, you're a hero. Save a hundred lives, you're a nurse."

"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

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

"No matter how difficult the days may get, don't forget the reason you became a nurse."

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

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

- Unknown

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

"Nurses are angels in comfortable shoes."

- Unknown

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

- Unknown

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

- Unknown

"Your work is a reflection of your heart. Keep it full, and you’ll find joy in every shift."

- Unknown

"Nursing is not for the faint of heart; it requires strength, endurance, and an unwavering spirit."

- Unknown

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

"Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax."

"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

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

- Unknown

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

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

- Unknown

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

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

- Unknown

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

- Unknown

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

- Unknown

"“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.”"

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

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

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

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