Doctors get all the glory, but nurses are usually the people keeping us healthy when we need medical care.
We appreciate nurses so much, we put together a list of our favorite quotes honoring the nurses that dedicate their lives in service to the public’s health. Here’s to you!
Nursing is love made visible. Pat Wilson
As a nurse, you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch yours. Unknown
To do what nobody else will do, a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through; is to be a nurse. Rawsi Williams
Caring is the essence of nursing. Jean Watson
Nursing is a kind of mania; a fever in the blood; an incurable disease which, once contracted, cannot be got out of the system. If it was not like that, there would be no hospital nurses, for compared dispassionately with other professions, the hours are long, the work hard, and the pay inadequate to the amount of concentrated energy required. A nurse, however, does not view her profession dispassionately. It is too much a part of her. Monica Dickens
As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves. Maya Angelou
Our job as nurses is to cushion the sorrow and celebrate the joy every day, while we are ‘just doing our jobs’. Christine Belle
I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something, and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do something that I can do. Edward Everett Hale
Nurses: one of the few blessings of being ill. Sara Moss-Wolfe
Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription. Val Saintsbury
They may forget your name but they will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou
You’re going to be there when a lot of people are born, and when a lot of people die. In most every culture, such moments are regarded as sacred and private, made special by a divine presence. No one on Earth would be welcomed, but you’re personally invited. What an honor that is. Thom Dick
You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you, you’ll win, no matter what the outcome. Patch Adams
The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life for the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, a means of locomotion for the infant, the knowledge and confidence of the young mother, and a voice for those too weak to speak. Virginia Henderson
Nurses Know: The mind can only look. The heart can truly see. Carol Gino
When I think about all the patients and their loved ones that I have worked with over the years, I know most of them don’t remember me nor I them. But I do know that I gave a little piece of myself to each of them and they to me and those threads make up the beautiful tapestry in my mind that is my career in nursing. Donna Wilk Cardillo
We cannot all do great things, only small things with great love. Mother Teresa
The character of the nurse is as important as the knowledge she possesses. Carolyn Jarvis
Nursing is not for everyone. It takes a very strong, intelligent, and compassionate person to take on the ills of the world with passion and purpose and work to maintain the health and well-being of the planet. Donna Wilk Cardillo
Our job is to love people. When it hurts. When it’s awkward. When it’s uncool and embarrassing. Our job is to stand together, to carry the burdens of one another and to meet each other in our questions. Jamie Tworkowksi
A nurse’s blood type? Coffee. Rosa Rosella
A nurse is compassion in scrubs. Lexie Saige
Be patient with patients who are not patient. Unknown
It is not how much you do but how much love you put in the doing. Mother Teresa
As nurses we know suffering. We are fully aware of how precious each moment of life is. Patricia Bratianu
Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon. Dag Hammarskjold
It would not be possible to praise nurses too highly. Stephen Ambrose
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. Florence Nightingale
Nurses are there when the last breath is taken and nurses are there when the first breath is taken. Although it is more enjoyable to celebrate the birth, it is just as important to comfort in death. Christine Bell
Save one life, you’re a hero. Save 100 lives, you’re a nurse. Unknown
The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest. William Osler
Let me dedicate my life today to the care of those who come my way. Let me touch each one with a healing hand and the gentle art for which I stand. And then tonight when the day is done, let me rest in peace if I’ve helped just one. A Nurse’s Prayer
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Leo Buscaglia
Compassion is a call, a demand of nature, to relieve the unhappy as hunger is a natural call for food. Joseph Butler
Nursing: It’s not what you do; it’s what you are! Teresa Adame
Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts. Charles Dickens
There is always that one special patient that you will remember forever. Unknown
Nursing is not for the faint of heart nor the empty of heart. Unknown
If love can’t cure it, nurses can. Unknown
Nurse — Just another word to describe a person strong enough to tolerate everything and soft enough to understand everyone. Unknown
A nurse will always give us hope, an angel with a stethoscope. Terri Guillemets
Nursing is great for so many reasons, but there is one reason that means more than any poll results, amount of money, or job security: Nurses make a difference. Brittney Wilson
Nurses are the heart of healthcare. Donna Wilk Cardillo
No matter how difficult the days may get, never forget the reason you became a nurse. Unknown
Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them. Marvin J. Ashton
Behind every good nurse…is a hallway full of blinking call lights she just answered. Nicole Killey
Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you. Mother Teresa
Nursing is not just an ART, it has a heART. Nursing is not just a SCIENCE, but it has a conSCIENCE. Unknown
Do you want to speak to the Doctor in charge, or the Nurse who really knows what is going on? Unknown
