Prejudices are what fools use for reason.
VoltaireRead
Doctors put drugs of which they know little into bodies of which they know less for diseases of which they know nothing at all.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote critiques the medical profession's reliance on treatments they do not fully understand.
Voltaire's quote highlights the paradox and irony in the practice of medicine, suggesting that physicians often administer treatments without a complete understanding of either the drugs or the patients' conditions. It reflects a deeper skepticism about the medical establishment and urges a critical examination of how health care is delivered and understood, questioning the knowledge and ethics behind medical practices.
Themes
MedicineKnowledgeHealthCritiqueSkepticism
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the limitations of modern medicine during a health seminar.
More from Voltaire
All quotes βHe was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal friend; provided, of course, he really is dead.
VoltaireRead
It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.
VoltaireRead
It is not sufficient to see and to know the beauty of a work. We must feel and be affected by it.
VoltaireRead
We are all full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies - it is the first law of nature.
VoltaireRead
It is better to risk saving a guilty man than to condemn an innocent one.
VoltaireRead
Similar quotes
After a short silence the doctor raised himself a little in his chair and asked if Tarrou had an idea of the path to follow for attaining peace. "Yes, he replied. "The path of sympathy.
Albert CamusRead
America is a willingness of the heart.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
If two individuals enter into a contract to commit trespass, theft, robbery or murder upon a third, the contract is unlawful and void, simply because it is a contract to violate natural justice, or men's natural rights.
Lysander SpoonerRead
All of us have not been to a natural prison, but everybody in here has had a spiritual prison.
T. D. JakesRead
Life, in her experience, had a kind of velvet luster. You looked at yourself from one perspective and all you saw was weirdness. Move your head a little bit, though, and everything looked reasonably normal.
Jonathan FranzenRead
Some journeys are direct, and some are circuitous; some are heroic, and some are fearful and muddled. But every journey, honestly undertaken, stands a chance of taking us toward the place where our deep gladness meets the worldβs deep need
Parker J. PalmerRead