The ideas behind the pharma sector date back to the apothecaries of the middle ages. A naturally progressive industry, pharma has drawn together some great thinkers and speakers.
To celebrate our rich history, here are some of our favourite pharmaceutical quotes.
“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.” - Hippocrates
“Medicine heals doubts as well as diseases.” - Karl Marx
“Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability.” - William Osler
“He who studies medicine without books sails an uncharted sea, but he who studies medicine without patients does not go to sea at all.” - William Osler
“One of the biggest challenges to medicine is the incorporation of information technology in our practices.” - Samuel Wilson
“Medicine is not only a science; it is also an art. It does not consist of compounding pills and plasters; it deals with the very processes of life, which must be understood before they may be guided.” - Paracelsus
“Childhood vaccines are one of the great triumphs of modern medicine. Indeed, parents whose children are vaccinated no longer have to worry about their child's death or disability from whooping cough, polio, diphtheria, hepatitis, or a host of other infections.” - Ezekiel Emanuel
“We know from our clinical experience in the practice of medicine that in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, the individual and his background of heredity are just as important, if not more so, as the disease itself.” - Paul Dudley White
“Medicine is the restoration of discordant elements; sickness is the discord of the elements infused into the living body.” - Leonardo da Vinci
“I have always stuck up for Western medicine. You can chew all the celery you want, but without antibiotics, three quarters of us would not be here.” - Hugh Laurie
[This article was originally published on 23rd September 2015, but has been updated on 15th February 2023]