It is quite as important to know what kind of a patient the disease has got, as to know what kind of a disease the patient has got.

Often attributed to Hippocrates, but an exhaustive search by Quote Investigator in 2019 has determined the earliest close match was spoken by Henry George Plimmer in 1899. Woods Hutchinson employed the saying repeatedly, starting in 1902, and pointed to Walter Moxon as creator of the expression, but no substantive support for this claim has been found. Therefore, the originator remains unknown.