Florence Nightingale

"I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took any excuse."

"The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm."

"To understand God's thoughts, we must study statistics, for these are the measure of His purpose."

"Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better."

"I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the ordinary occurrences of life."

"Life is not an exact science, it is an art."

"The true foundation of theology is to ascertain the character of God."

"Nursing is an art; and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation as any painter's or sculptor's work."

"The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm."

"I am sure I never heard of any objection to people putting a little blanc-mange powder into their feet."

"One cannot have spiritual peace and whole devotion to duty unless, directly or indirectly, the results of one's work are visible."

"I have lived and I have loved."

"The greatest wealth is health."

"If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it."

"Dreaming all night of the wish, recommends it but does not incarnate it."

"Live your life as an exclamation rather than an explanation."

"The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty."

"Women who have changed the world never women who have been liked."

"No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this—devoted and obedient."

"You ask me why I do not write. I have only to say that the true knowledge of our duty is the principal foundation of virtue."

"The very first requirement is to learn, as a nurse should learn."

"To God I daily commit my soul."

"I think one's feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results."

"Unless we place our religion and our politics in the same sphere of action, they cannot both occupy the sphere which belongs to them."

"We are not asked to do anything, we are asked to BE something."

"The true foundation of an education is moral."

"The sick body and its attendants are not the only factors in a sick room."

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."

"Do not live to please yourself; live to please God."

"To be a nurse one must have a calling."