Avicenna

life width length age old

"Width of life is more important than length of life".

—Avicenna (980-1037)

incurable disease worthless herb will knowledge

"There are no incurable diseases — only the lack of will. There are no worthless herbs — only the lack of knowledge."

—Avicenna (980-1037)

knowledge cause complete

"The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes."

—Avicenna (980-1037)

medicine health science theoretical practical

"Medicine is the science by which we learn the various states of the human body in health and when not in health, and the means by which health is likely to be lost and, when lost, is likely to be restored back to health. In other words, it is the art whereby health is conserved and the art whereby it is restored after being lost. While some divide medicine into a theoretical and a practical [applied] science, others may assume that it is only theoretical because they see it as a pure science. But, in truth, every science has both a theoretical and a practical side."

—Avicenna (980-1037)

wine fault fool stumble darkness

"Is it the fault of wine if a fool drinks it and goes stumbling into darkness?"

—Avicenna (980-1037)

ligntning brilliant disappear

"The more brilliant the lightning, the quicker it disappears."

—Avicenna (980-1037)

wine moderation breath gladness exiting

"But the fact is that when wine is taken in moderation, it gives rise to a large amount of breath, whose character is balanced, and whose luminosity is strong and brilliant. Hence wine disposes greatly to gladness, and the person is subject to quite trivial exciting agents. The breath now takes up the impression of agents belonging to the present time more easily than it does those which relate to the future; it responds to agents conducive to delight rather than those conducive to a sense of beauty."

—Avicenna (980-1037)

madness sorts innumerable

"The different sorts of madness are innumerable."

—Avicenna (980-1037)

mountain formed stone clay petrify ages

"Mountains have been formed by one [or other] of the causes of the formation of stone, most probably from agglutinative clay which slowly dried and petrified during ages of which we have no record. It seems likely that this habitable world was in former days uninhabitable and, indeed, submerged beneath the ocean. Then, becoming exposed little by little, it petrified in the course of ages."

—Avicenna (980-1037)