Famous Rheumatologist Quotes – Part II Save

Last month, many rheumatologists offered up their favorite quotes. Most of these were on medicine, medical skills, some pertained to rheumatology and others were axioms for life.
Below are even more quotes from great rheumatologists.

Xavier Mariette, MD - Hôpitaux Universitaire Paris-Sud

“The less the physicians know the most they forbid.” A sentence I frequently say to the students.

Daniel Furst, MD – UCLA

"You never get something for nothing."
I found this from Herman Wouk’s Winds of War, but I am not sure where the earliest reference is from.

Arthur Weinstein, MD - MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Georgetown University, Washington

"When there are conflicting diagnostic possibilities, trust your excellent history and physical examination more than laboratory testing and imaging."

To medical students, residents, fellows and anyone else who cares to listen. Unfortunately few believe and even fewer take an excellent history and do an excellent physical examination anymore.

Larry Broadwell, MD

"You don't know what you don't know." (Editor’s note: this is the corollary to “Better the devil you know than the angel you don’t “ - Hama Tuma.)

Here’s more on the same theme:

John Hicks, MD, FACP, FACR

Dean Donald Tapley at Columbia University College of P&S once said, “when you know what you don't know, then you're ready to be a physician”. One of my recent patients found a more eloquent version of this: “He who knows he knows, knows NOT. He, who knows he knows not, knows A LOT”. Very appropriate to being a rheumatologist.

Roy A. Kaplan, MD - Scripps Health, Encinitas, CA

“The first or only (medical school) interview should be done by a grandmother.”
This comment comes from my mentor, the late Dr. J. William "Bill" Hollingsworth, when he addressed the deficiency of common sense and compassion in some physicians, and wondering "how these people got accepted into medical school”.

Artie Kavanaugh, MD - Univ. of California at San Diego

“Absence of proof of efficacy does not equal proof of absence of efficacy.” (key example being MTX in PsA)
“Common sense is the measure of the possible; it is composed of experience and prevision; it is calculation applied to life.” - Henri Frederic Amiel

Christopher Ritchlin, MD - Univ. of Rochester, NY

Rheumatism
The whole body becomes painful, the face in some becomes red, the pain rages especially about the joints, so that indeed neither the foot nor the hand, nor the finger can be moved… without pain & outcry….. Although the arthritis is in a certain part, this rheumatism itself is in the entire body.   -Guillaume de Baillou (Balloinius) 1736 Opera Medica Onmia

Academic Medicine
Academicians expect too much of academic medicine. They wish for the gentility of the academician of yesteryear, the income of a cardiovascular surgeon, and the kudos of a molecular biologist who clones a new gene (provided it is the right one, of course) and they complain if they don’t get it all. - Robert G. Petersdorf 1981 New England Journal of Medicine

Quotations Pain
Pain has an element of blank;
It cannot recollect
When it began, or if there were
A day when it was not.

It has no future but itself,
Its infinite realms contain
Its past, enlightened to perceive
New periods of pain.
Emily Dickenson

George Housley, MA, MD (Tupelo, MS)
“Anyone offering that they have a high pain tolerance generally does not.”

“The person who should be the most comfortable during a procedure is the one with the sharp object.” Pointed out to me by a resident during medical school.

Dr. Ronan Kavanagh (@ronankavanagh, Galway, Ireland)

“The act of distilling the essence of a paper into 140 characters knowing it’s to be read by colleagues focuses the mind like nothing else!” (Editor’s note: Ronan is commenting on the skill needed to write a good 140 character “tweet” as a teaching tool on Twitter.)

Jack Cush, MD - RheumNow.com

“Idealism and cynicism are easy. It's negotiating the in-between that's difficult, interesting and worthwhile.”
“Never overestimate your power to change others 0R underestimate your power to change yourself. Winners do what losers don’t want to.”
“Tis risky to base practice on antecdotalism, wiki- or Google-medicine when evidence exists in the form of randomized clinical trials."

Sir William Osler, MD (a would-be rheumatologist)

• “The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.
• “Beware of the men that call you “Doc.” They rarely pay their bills.”
• “A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.”
• “One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicines.”
• “The chief function of the consultant is to make a rectal exam that you have omitted.”
• “Common sense in matters medical is rare, and is usually in inverse ratio to the degree of education.”
• “The clinician who keeps one eye on his watch while in the wards is rarely successful.”
• “Varicose veins are the result of an improper selection of grandparents.”
• “A patient with a written list of symptoms — neurasthenia”

Benjamin Franklin (on the $100 bill)
“God heals, and the Doctor takes the Fees.”

Yogi Berra’s (NY Yankee)

• "Half the lies they tell about me aren’t true."
• "He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious."
• "The future ain’t what it used to be."
• "Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical."
• "It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much."
• "I usually take a two-hour nap, from one to four."
• "The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase."
• "We made too many wrong mistakes."

DO YOU HAVE A QUOTE?

Please send me your quote - one that you have often used or one that is your favorite; or one that has impact on patient care, practice, medical education or the wisdom and art behind medicine.

Send by posting a comment below (please register to do so - you'll be doing me a great favor and its easy) or send me your "famous rheumatology quote" via email to: jackcush@rheumnow.com (link sends e-mail). Be sure to include short sentence addressing its impact on you or others and also where you work or your affiliation.