Paracelsus (1493/1494–1541) was a Swiss-German physician, alchemist, and philosopher who revolutionized medicine and pharmacology during the Renaissance. Born Theophrastus von Hohenheim, he adopted the moniker “Paracelsus” to signify his departure from traditional medical practices. Rejecting the prevailing Galenic system, Paracelsus emphasized observation, experimentation, and the use of chemicals in medicine, laying the groundwork for modern pharmacology. He believed in the concept of the “microcosm-macrocosm” relationship, suggesting that the human body mirrored the larger universe.
Paracelsus made significant contributions to medical chemistry, introducing new drugs and treatments, and challenging prevailing medical dogmas. He advocated for the use of specific doses of chemicals to treat diseases, a precursor to the principle of pharmacology. Despite controversy and opposition from the medical establishment, Paracelsus’s ideas influenced generations of physicians and laid the foundation for modern medical practice. He is remembered as a pioneering figure in the history of medicine, whose insights and innovations continue to resonate in contemporary healthcare.
Paracelsus Quotes
1. “Medicine is not only a science; it is also an art. It does not consist of compounding pills and plasters; it deals with the very processes of life, which must be understood before they may be guided.”
— Paracelsus
2. “The dose makes the poison.”
— Paracelsus
3. “I am different. Let this not upset you.”
— Paracelsus
4. “Fasting is the greatest remedy – the physician within.”
— Paracelsus
5. “All that man needs for health and healing has been provided by God in nature, the Challenge of science is to find it.”
— Paracelsus
6. “Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy.”
— Paracelsus
7. “All drugs are poisons the benefit depends on the dosage.”
— Paracelsus
8. “The highest degree of a medicine is Love.”
— Paracelsus
9. “The art of healing comes from nature, not from the physician. Therefore the physician must start from nature, with an open mind.”
— Paracelsus
10. “The art of medicine has its roots in the heart.”
— Paracelsus
11. “All things are poisons, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. It is only the dose which makes a thing poison.”
— Paracelsus
12. “The main reason for healing is love.”
— Paracelsus
13. “The beginning of wisdom is the beginning of supernatural power.”
— Paracelsus
14. “Medicine is not merely a science but an art. The character of the physician may act more powerfully upon the patient than the drugs employed.”
— Paracelsus
15. “Man is ill because he is never still.”
— Paracelsus
16. “In every human being there is a special heaven, whole and unbroken.”
— Paracelsus
17. “All things are poisons. It is simply the dose that distinguishes between a poison and a remedy.”
— Paracelsus
18. “Men who are devoid of the power of spiritual perception are unable to recognize anything that cannot be seen externally.”
— Paracelsus
19. “Time is a brisk wind, for each hour it brings something new.”
— Paracelsus
20. “Since nothing is so secret or hidden that it cannot be revealed, everything depends on the discovery of those things that manifest the hidden.”
— Paracelsus
21. “Thoughts create a new heaven, a new firmament, a new source of energy, from which new arts flow.”
— Paracelsus
22. “The right dose differentiates a poison from a remedy.”
— Paracelsus
23. “The ultimate cause of human disease is the consequence of our transgression of the universal laws of life.”
— Paracelsus
24. “Medicine rests upon four pillars – philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, and ethics.”
— Paracelsus
25. “Anyone who imagines that all fruits ripen at the same time as the strawberries knows nothing about grapes.”
— Paracelsus
26. “It is said that a wise man rules over the stars, but this does not mean that he rules over the influences which come from the stars in the sky. It means that he rules over the powers which exist in his own constitution.”
— Paracelsus
27. “Magic has power to experience and fathom things which are inaccessible to human reason. For magic is a great secret wisdom, just as reason is a great public folly.”
— Paracelsus
28. “Know that the philosopher has power over the stars, and not the stars over him.”
— Paracelsus
29. “Nature is a light, and by looking at Nature in her own light we will understand her. Visible Nature can be seen in her visible light; invisible Nature will become visible if we acquire the power to perceive her in her inner light.”
— Paracelsus
30. “The interpretation of dreams is a great art.”
— Paracelsus
31. “Every physician must be rich in knowledge, and not only of that which is written in books; his patients should be his book, they will never mislead him.”
— Paracelsus
32. “Whether wine is a nourishment, medicine or poison is a matter of dosage.”
— Paracelsus
33. “A little bit of beer is divine medicine.”
— Paracelsus
34. “Dreams must be heeded and accepted. For a great many of them come true.”
— Paracelsus
35. “Man is a microcosm, or a little world, because he is an extract from all the stars and planets of the whole firmament, from the earth and the elements; and so he is their quintessence.”
— Paracelsus
36. “All arts lie in man, though not all are apparent. Awakening brings them out. To be taught is nothing; everything is in man waiting to be awakened.”
— Paracelsus
37. “He who knows nothing, loves nothing. He who can do nothing understands nothing. He who understands nothing is worthless. But he who understands also loves, notices, sees… The more knowledge is inherent in a thing, the greater the love… Anyone who imagines that all fruits ripen at the same time as the strawberries knows nothing about grapes.”
— Paracelsus
38. “All numbers are multiples of one, all sciences converge to a common point, all wisdom comes out of one center, and the number of wisdom is one.”
— Paracelsus
39. “The dreams which reveal the supernatural are promises and messages that God sends us directly: they are nothing but His angels, His ministering spirits, who usually appear to us when we are in a great predicament.”
— Paracelsus
40. “Some children are born from heaven and others are born from hell, because each human being has his inherent tendencies, and these tendencies belong to his spirit, and indicate the state in which he existed before he was born.”
— Paracelsus
41. “The human body is vapor materialized by sunshine mixed with the life of the stars.”
— Paracelsus
42. “Life is like music, it must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule. Nevertheless one had better know the rules, for they sometimes guide in doubtful cases, though not often.”
— Paracelsus
43. “Be not another, if you can be yourself.”
— Paracelsus
44. “It should be forbidden and severely punished to remove cancer by cutting, burning, cautery, and other fiendish tortures. It is from nature that the disease comes, and from nature comes the cure, not from physicians.”
— Paracelsus
45. “Nothing is hidden so much that it wouldn’t be revealed through its fruit.”
— Paracelsus
46. “The physician must give heed to the region in which the patient lives, that is to say, to its type and peculiarities.”
— Paracelsus
47. “For it is we who must pray for our daily bread, and if He grants it to us, it is only through our labour, our skill and preparation.”
— Paracelsus
48. “Death is the midwife of very great things… It brings about the birth and rebirth of forms a thousand times improved. This is the highest mystery of God.”
— Paracelsus
49. “The book of Nature is that which the physician must read; and to do so he must walk over the leaves.”
— Paracelsus
50. “Women’s regular bleeding engenders phantoms.”
— Paracelsus
51. “Every body consists of three ingredients. The names of these are Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt.”
— Paracelsus
52. “Could we but rightly comprehend the mind of man, nothing would be impossible to us upon the earth.”
— Paracelsus
53. “As you talk, so is your heart.”
— Paracelsus
54. “Dreams are not without meaning wherever thay may come from-from fantasy, from the elements, or from other inspiration.”
— Paracelsus
55. “There is in each person, in every animal, bird and plant a star which mirrors, matches or is in some sense the same as a star in the heavens.”
— Paracelsus
56. “It would be an error to try to build the Kingdom of Heaven upon envy. For nothing that is founded on envy can thrive; it must have another root.”
— Paracelsus
57. “From time immemorial artistic insights have been revealed to artists in their sleep and in dreams, so that at all times they ardently desired them.”
— Paracelsus
58. “Everything is a drug; it depends on the dose.”
— Paracelsus
59. “Then God sends us such a messenger who appears to us in spirit, warns us, consoles us, teaches us, and brings us His good tidings.”
— Paracelsus
60. “The art of medicine cannot be inherited, nor can it be copied from books.”
— Paracelsus
61. “If we want to make a statement about a man’s nature on the basis of his physiognomy, we must take everything into account; it is in his distress that a man is tested, for then his nature is revealed.”
— Paracelsus
62. “What the eyes perceive in herbs or stones or trees is not yet a remedy; the eyes see only the dross.”
— Paracelsus
63. “Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines.”
— Paracelsus
64. “The most secure method, to ruin your health, is a SICK BED!”
— Paracelsus
65. “A mortal lives not through that breath that flows in and that flows out. The source of his life is another and this causes the breath to flow.”
— Paracelsus
66. “What sense would it make or what would it benfit a physician if he discovered the origin of the diseases but could not cure or alleviate them?”
— Paracelsus
67. “For one country is different from another; its earth is different, as are its stones, wines, bread, meat, and everything that grows and thrives in a specific region.”
— Paracelsus
68. “Let no one who can be his own belong to another.”
— Paracelsus
69. “We do not know it because we are fooling away our time with outward and perishing things, and are asleep in regard to that which is real within ourself.”
— Paracelsus
70. “But is not He who created it for the sake of the sick body more than the remedy? And is not He who cures the soul, which is more than the body, greater?”
— Paracelsus
71. “However, anyone to whom this happens should not leave his room upon awakening, should speak to no-one, but remain alone and sober until everything comes back to him, and he recalls the dream.”
— Paracelsus
72. “Consider that we shouldn’t call our brother a fool, since we don’t know ourselves what we are.”
— Paracelsus
73. “Once a disease has entered the body, all parts which are healthy must fight it: not one alone, but all. Because a disease might mean their common death. Nature knows this; and Nature attacks the disease with whatever help she can muster.”
— Paracelsus
74. “And it is true, best is nothing concealed which shall not be discovered; for which cause a marvellous being shall come after me, who as yet lives not, and who shall reveal many things.”
— Paracelsus
75. “There is an earthly sun, which is the cause of all heat, and all who are able to see may see the sun; and those who are blind and cannot see him may feel his heat. There is an Eternal Sun, which is the source of all wisdom, and those whose spiritual senses have awakened to life will see that sun and be conscious of His existence; but those who have not attained spiritual consciousness may yet feel His power by an inner faculty which is called Intuition.”
— Paracelsus
76. “That which lives on reason lives against the spirit.”
— Paracelsus
77. “Nature also forges man, now a gold man, now a silver man, now a fig man, now a bean man.”
— Paracelsus
78. “This is alchemy, and this is the office of Vulcan; he is the apothecary and chemist of the medicine.”
— Paracelsus
79. “This process is alchemy: its founder is the smith Vulcan.”
— Paracelsus
80. “Although Alchemy has now fallen into contempt, and is even considered a thing of the past, the physicain should not be influenced by such judgements.”
— Paracelsus
81. “All things are poison, and nothing is without poison.”
— Paracelsus
82. “One who lives within reason lives without the spirit.”
— Paracelsus
83. “Magic is natural, for nature itself is magic.”
— Paracelsus
84. “To understand correctly the meaning of the words Alchemy and Astrology, it is necessary to understand and to realize the intimate relationship and identity of the Microcosm and Macrocosm, and their mutual interaction.”
— Paracelsus
85. “Sorcery has been called Magic: but Magic is Wisdom, and there is no wisdom in Sorcery.”
— Paracelsus
