Florence Nightingale
English social reformer and statistician (1820 to 1910), the founder of modern nursing; she managed and trained nurses caring for wounded soldiers in the Crimean War.
Florence Nightingale did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Our reading
Almost every woman at some time has charge of someone's health, so every woman is a nurse
Their wordsEvery woman, or at least almost every woman, in England has, at one time or another of her life, charge of the personal health of somebody, whether child or invalid,—in other words, every woman is a nurse.
↗Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (1859; Appleton edition)gutenberg.org 1st of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsIf a patient is cold, if a patient is feverish, if a patient is faint, if he is sick after taking food, if he has a bed-sore, it is generally the fault not of the disease, but of the nursing.
↗Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (1859; Appleton edition)gutenberg.org 2nd of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsI 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.
↗Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (1859; Appleton edition)gutenberg.org 3rd of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsThe very first canon of nursing, the first and the last thing upon which a nurse's attention must be fixed, the first essential to a patient, without which all the rest you can do for him is as nothing, with which I had almost said you may leave all the rest alone, is this: TO KEEP THE AIR HE BREATHES AS PURE AS THE EXTERNAL AIR, WITHOUT CHILLING HIM.
↗Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (1859; Appleton edition)gutenberg.org 4th of 8 in this piece
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Our reading
Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting and fear of surprise harm a patient more than any exertion
Their wordsApprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion.
↗Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (1859; Appleton edition)gutenberg.org 5th of 8 in this piece
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Our reading
Unnecessary noise is the cruellest absence of care that can be inflicted on the sick or the well
Their wordsUnnecessary noise, then, is the most cruel absence of care which can be inflicted either on sick or well.
↗Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (1859; Appleton edition)gutenberg.org 6th of 8 in this piece
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Our reading
The most important practical lesson for nurses is what to observe and how to observe it in the sick
Their wordsThe most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe—how to observe—what symptoms indicate improvement—what the reverse—which are of importance—which are of none—which are the evidence of neglect—and of what kind of neglect.
↗Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (1859; Appleton edition)gutenberg.org 7th of 8 in this piece
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Their wordsSurely woman should bring the best she has, whatever that is, to the work of God's world, without attending to either of these cries.
↗Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It Is Not (1859; Appleton edition)gutenberg.org 8th of 8 in this piece
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.