Notable Quotes for the Physician
Guest lecturers at Clinical Center Grounds Rounds/Great Teachers realize that to become a great teacher, one must first become a great student. And great students are adept at citing the masters in their field.
Here are some of the authorities cited by Dr. Alan R. Cohen during his Nov. 8 presentation.
On the importance of the patient-physician relationship: “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of being.”—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
On the need to provide hope: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”—Viktor E. Frankl
On balancing hope with honesty: “I have too much respect for the truth to drag it out on every trifling occasion.”—Mark Twain
On humility: “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”—C.S. Lewis
On communicating clearly: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”—Leonardo da Vinci
On humane care: “May I never forget that the patient is a fellow creature in pain. May I never consider him merely a vessel of disease.”—Maimonides