The art is long, life is short
HippocratesRead
Whoever wishes to investigate medicine should proceed thus: In the first place, consider the seasons of the year and what effect each of them produces.
Interpretation
Hippocrates emphasizes the importance of nature and seasonal changes in understanding medicine.
In this quote, Hippocrates advocates for a foundational approach to medicine that begins with observing the natural world, particularly the changes brought by the seasons. He suggests that these environmental factors significantly influence health and should be integral to the study and practice of medicine, highlighting the interconnectedness of nature and human well-being.
In practice
During a medical conference discussing holistic approaches to health, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of considering environmental factors.
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.
First, it is necessary to study the facts, to multiply the number of observations, and then later to search for formulas that connect them so as thus to discern the particular laws governing a certain class of phenomena. In general, it is not until after these particular laws have been established that one can expect to discover and articulate the more general laws that complete theories by bringing a multitude of apparently very diverse phenomena together under a single governing principle.
It is interesting thus to follow the intellectual truths of analysis in the phenomena of nature. This correspondence, of which the system of the world will offer us numerous examples, makes one of the greatest charms attached to mathematical speculations.
So in regard to mental qualities, their transmission is manifest in our dogs, horses and other domestic animals. Besides special tastes and habits, general intelligence, courage, bad and good tempers. etc., are certainly transmitted.
Well, I'm a bacteriologist, you know. I live in a nine-hundred-diameter microscope. I can hardly claim to take serious notice of anything that I can see with my naked eye.
We are all agreed that your theory is crazy. The question which divides us is whether it is crazy enough to have a chance of being correct. My own feeling is that it is not crazy enough.
Science is history arranged according to the superstition and taste of the moment. The vocabulary of scholars has no wit, no salt. These heavy tomes have no soul, they are filled with distress.
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