The art is long, life is short
HippocratesRead
From nothing else but the brain come joys, delights, laughter and sports, and sorrows, griefs, despondency, and lamentations
Interpretation
The mind is the source of all our emotions and experiences, both positive and negative.
Hippocrates emphasizes the pivotal role of the brain in shaping our emotional experiences and joys, highlighting that it is through our thoughts and mental processes that we derive happiness as well as sorrow. This underscores the dual capability of the mind where it can produce both the heights of joy and the depths of despair, suggesting that our mental state profoundly impacts our overall experience of life.
In practice
During a motivational speech about mental health, I might quote Hippocrates to illustrate the impact of our thoughts.
The art is long, life is short
The body of man has in itself blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile; these make up the nature of this body, and through these he feels pain or enjoys health. Now he enjoys the most perfect health when these elements are duly proportioned to one another in respect of compounding, power and bulk, and when they are perfectly mingled.
That which is used - develops. That which is not used wastes away.
Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always.
Wine is an appropriate article for mankind, both for the healthy body and for the ailing man.
Walking is man's best medicine.
You do not preach and encourage hatred for the Negro and hope to restrict it to that field. It is an old, old story. It is one repeated over and over again in history. When the wolves of hate are loosed on one people, then no one is safe.
Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.
Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.
From the viewpoint of analytic psychology, the theatre, aside from any aesthetic value, may be considered as an institution for the treatment of the mass complex.
Each act is virgin, even the repeated ones.
I act as the tongue of you, ... tied in your mouth . . . . in mine it begins to be loosened.
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