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I use the word nursing for want of a better. It has been limited to signify little more than the administration of medicines and the application of poultices. It ought to signify the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet — all at the least expense of vital power to the patient.

— Florence Nightingale Notes on Nursing (1860)

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More quotes by Florence Nightingale

To understand God's thoughts we must study statistics, for these are the measure of His purpose.

It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a Hospital that it should do the sick no harm.

Notes on Hospitals 3rd Edition (1863)

Law is the continuous manifestation of God's presence — not reason for believing him absent.

Suggestions for Thought : Selections and Commentaries (1994)

Can the "word" be pinned down to either one period or one church? All churches are, of course, only more or less unsuccessful attempts to represent the unseen to the mind.

It is very well to say "be prudent, be careful, try to know each other." But how are you to know each other?

Cassandra (1860)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Florence Nightingale (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.