Avicenna

The different sorts of madness are innumerable.

— Avicenna

“I would rather have a short life with width rather than a narrow one with length.”

— Avicenna

Leeches should be kept a day before applying them. They should be squeezed to make them eject the contents of their stomachs.

— Avicenna

The world is divided into men who have wit and no religion and men who have religion and no wit.

— Avicenna

Those who deny the first principle should be flogged or burned until they admit that it is not the same thing to…

— Avicenna

It is in the nature of water ... to become transformed into earth through a predominating earthy virtue; ... it is in…

— Avicenna

“Anyone who denies the law of non-contradiction should be beaten and burned until he admits that to be beaten is not the…

— Avicenna

Pain is a sensation produced by something contrary to the course of nature and this sensation is set up by one of…

— Avicenna

But the fact is that when wine is taken in moderation, it gives rise to a large amount of breath, whose character…

— Avicenna

The theory of medicine, therefore, presents what is useful in thought, but does not indicate how it is to be applied in…

— Avicenna

An ignorant doctor is the aide-de-camp of death.

— Avicenna

A horse is simply a horse.

— Avicenna

In God alone, essence (what He is) and existence (that he is) coincide.

— Avicenna

The more brilliant the lightning, the quicker it disappears.

— Avicenna

I [prefer] a short life with width to a narrow one with length.

— Avicenna

Width of life is more important than length of life.

— Avicenna

As to the mental essence, we find it in infants devoid of every mental form.

— Avicenna

Therefore in medicine we ought to know the causes of sickness and health.

— Avicenna

Is it the fault of wine if a fool drinks it and goes stumbling into darkness?

— Avicenna

That whose existence is necessary must necessarily be one essence.

— Avicenna

The physical signs of measles are nearly the same as those of smallpox, but nausea and inflammation is more severe, though the…

— Avicenna

Medicine considers the human body as to the means by which it is cured and by which it is driven away from…

— Avicenna

The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes.

— Avicenna

There are no incurable diseases — only the lack of will. There are no worthless herbs — only the lack of knowledge.

— Avicenna

When you do not know the nature of the malady, leave it to nature; do not strive to hasten matters. For either…

— Avicenna

Medicine deals with the states of health and disease in the human body. It is a truism of philosophy that a complete…

— Avicenna

Now it is established in the sciences that no knowledge is acquired save through the study of its causes and beginnings, if…

— Avicenna

Pure earth does not petrify, because the predominance of dryness over [i.e. in] the earth endows it not with coherence but rather…

— Avicenna

Disease is an abnormal state of the body which primarily and independently produces a disturbance in the normal functions of the body.…

— Avicenna

God, the supreme being, is neither circumscribed by space, nor touched by time; he cannot be found in a particular direction, and…

— Avicenna

Mountains have been formed by one [or other] of the causes of the formation of stone, most probably from agglutinative clay which…

— Avicenna

Prayer is that which enables the soul to realize its divinity. Through prayer human beings worship absolute truth, and seek an eternal…

— Avicenna

Medicine is the science by which we learn the various states of the human body in health and when not in health,…

— Avicenna