Quotes by Florence Nightingale

“Jesus Christ raised women above the condition of mere slaves, mere ministers to the passions of the man, raised them by His sympathy, to be Ministers of God.”

“Let us never consider ourselves finished nurses....we must be learning all of our lives.”

“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; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.”

“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.”

“Live life when you have it. Life is a splendid gift-there is nothing small about it.”

“Nursing is a progressive art such that to stand still is to go backwards.”

“How very little can be done under the spirit of fear.”

“Nature alone cures. ... what nursing has to do ... is to put the patient in the best condition for nature to act upon him.”

“I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.”

“The most important practical lesson than can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe.”

“Never underestimate the healing effects of beauty.”

“Live your life while you have it. Life is a splendid gift. There is nothing small in it. For the greatest things grow by God's Law out of the smallest. But to live your life you must discipline it. You must not fritter it away in "fair purpose, erring act, inconstant will" but make your thoughts, your acts, all work to the same end and that end, not self but God. That is what we call character.”