“It is the curse of humanity that it learns to tolerate even the most horrible situations by habituation.”

Science in itself’ is nothing, for it exists only in the human beings who are its bearers. ‘Science for its own sake’ usually means nothing more than science for the sake of the people who happen to be pursuing it.

Life itself is but the expression of a sum of phenomena, each of which follows the ordinary physical and chemical laws.

Laws should be made, not against quacks but against superstition.

Between animal and human medicine, there is no dividing line-nor should there be.

It is the curse of humanity that it learns to tolerate even the most horrible situations by habituation, that it forgets the most shameful happenings in the daily shame of events, and that it can hardly understand when individuals aim to destroy this infamy.

Belief begins where science leaves off and ends where science begins.

Brevity in writing is the best insurance for its perusal.

The task of science is to stake out the limits of the knowable, and to center consciousness within them.

Imprisoned quacks are always replaced by new ones.

Only those who regard healing as the ultimate goal of their efforts can, therefore, be designated as physicians.

As long as vitalism and spiritualism are open questions so long will the gateway of science be open to mysticism.

My politics were those of prophylaxis, my opponents preferred those of palliation.

Medical statistics will be our standard of measurement: we will weigh life for life and see where the dead lie thicker, among the workers or among the privileged.

Body: A cell state in which every cell is a citizen.

Belief cannot be reckoned with in terms of science, for science and faith are mutually exclusive.

Disease is not something personal and special, but only a manifestation of life under modified conditions, operating according to the same laws as apply to the living body at all times, from the first moment until death.