Whenever a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm.

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

When I told my doctor I couldn’t afford an operation, he offered to touch-up my X-rays.

I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places.

When we are sick, we want an uncommon doctor; when we have a construction job to do, we want an uncommon engineer, and when we are at war, we want an uncommon general. It is only when we get into politics that we are satisfied with the common man.

A doctor gave a man six months to live. The man couldn’t pay his bill, so he gave him another six months.

I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their own life, and those that help them should be free from prosecution.

Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.

Each doctor makes a much, much more important job than I do, but at the end, nobody talks about him. We all know about it, but we don’t really think about it.

I’m not feeling very well – I need a doctor immediately. Ring the nearest golf course.

The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity.

Make a habit of two things: to help; or at least to do no harm.

And that means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise to the American people: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you’ll be able to keep your health care plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.

If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.

It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a hospital that it should do the sick no harm.

The doctor who diagnosed me with ALS, or motor neuron disease, told me that it would kill me in two or three years.

In the history of medicine, it is not always the great scientist or the learned doctor who goes forward to discover new fields, new avenues, new ideas.

The most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe – how to observe – what symptoms indicate improvement – what the reverse – which are of importance – which are of none – which are the evidence of neglect – and of what kind of neglect.

I wanted to be a doctor that I might be able to work without having to talk because for years I had been giving myself out in words.

My doctor told me I shouldn’t work out until I’m in better shape. I told him, ‚All right; don’t send me a bill until I pay you.‘