April 29, 2011

“First, do no harm.” (“Primum non nocere.”)


THE FAMOUS ALLEGED DOCTORS’ OATH:

“First, do no harm.” (“Primum non nocere.”)
       Commonly attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates (c. 460 B.C. - c. 377 B.C.)
       It is widely — and wrongly — believed that this phrase was written by Hippocrates and is part of the “The Hippocratic Oath” that doctors take. In reality, the Hippocratic Oath was written by the early followers of Hippocrates, not by Hippocrates himself. Moreover, the phrase “First, do no harm” (“Primum non nocere” in Latin) does not appear in the original version or modern versions of the Hippocratic Oath and there is no legal requirement for doctors to take this oath, though it is a tradition at most medical schools.


THE ALLEGED ALTERNATE OATH OF SOME DOCTORS:

“First, do no harm. Second, leave no wallet with anything other than a condom in it.”
       From a post by the anonymous author of
The Enlightening Nonsense blog
       His view on the high fees charged by some physicians and medical clinics


AN ECO-MINDED BUDDHIST’S CODE:

“First, do no harm; second, do what you can to relieve suffering. It’s bound to be a slow process and is part of what the Dalai Lama has called ‘ethics for a new millennium.’” Everyone must take responsibility for the well-being of the planet.”
       Arnold Kozak
       From Kozak’s Buddhism, The Everything Buddhism Book (2011)


A NINJA’S CODE:

“The rule is: first, do no harm; second, never make a challenge; third, never turn down a challenge.”
       Ashida Kim 
       Marshal arts code in Kim’s book The Invisible Fist: Secret Ninja Methods of Vanishing Without a Trace (1998)


A TYPICAL POLITICIAN’S CODE:

“The doctor’s code is, ‘First — do no harm.’ The politician’s code is, ‘First — go on television.”
       Guillermo Del Toro, with co-author Chuck Hogan
       Said by the character Dr. Barnes, in their modern vampire novel
The Strain (2009)

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Comments? Questions? Corrections? Post them on my Famous Quotations Facebook group.


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April 26, 2011

“A bridge too far” – then and now…


THE FAMOUS WORLD WAR II QUOTE:

“I think we might be going a bridge too far.”
      
Lt. General Frederick “Boy” Browning (1896-1965)
       British military officer
       Comment to Field Marshal Montgomery on September 10, 1944, expressing doubts about the Allied plan to capture the bridge at Arnhem from the Germans as part of
“Operation Market Garden.” Browning’s concern turned out to be prophetic. The attempt to take the bridge failed and thousands of British soldiers were killed, wounded and captured. In 1974, Browning’s phrase “a bridge too far” was used by historian Cornelius Ryan as the title of his best-selling book about this event. The book was made into the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far, which featured an all-star cast. The popularity of the book and movie helped make “a bridge too far” — and variations on it — an idiomatic way saying that something is flawed because it is excessive or otherwise goes “too far.”


GOVERNOR BREWER’S BIRTHER SMACKDOWN:

“I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on Earth to submit their ‘early baptismal or circumcision certificates,’ among other records, to the Arizona Secretary of State. This is a bridge too far.”
      
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer
      
Comment to the press on April 18, 2011, explaining why she vetoed a wacky bill concocted by “Birthers” who refuse to believe that President Barack Obama was born in the United States. 


RICK SANTORUM’S LAME REMARK ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE:

“Marriage is an institution that’s a bridge too far for too many African-American woman and is not desirable among African-American males.”
      
Sen. Rick Santorum
       Conservative Republican senator and presidential candidate
      
Comment to the press on June 2, 2009, demonstrating again why the top result when you Google “Santorum” seems highly appropriate.


HILLARY CLINTON’S LAME QUIP ABOUT CHINESE PEOPLE:

“I don’t know whether you and I will play ping-pong in public. That may be a bridge too far.”
      
Hillary Rodham Clinton
       U.S. Secretary of State
      
Remark to Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong at a U.S.-China diplomatic event in Washington, DC, April 12, 2011, lamely referencing the Nixon-era matches between Chinese and American ping pong players in 1971, which was then a historic sign of a thaw in U.S.-Chinese relations (commonly referred to as “ping pong diplomacy”).


THE DONALD TRUMP VARIATION:

“Visualising this brash casino-owner and his Slovenian ex-model trophy wife Melania in the White House is a stretch but hardly a stretch too far when US voters have elected an actor for president, a muscle-bound Austrian-American action star for Governor of California and a Slovak-American wrestler as Governor of Minnesota.”
      
Linda S. Heard 
       British journalist
 
       In
an April 12, 2011 commentary in the Dubai-based Gulf News on the possibility of Donald Trump being elected President of the United States.


THE JENNIFER GARNER VARIATION:

“[Agatha Christie] fans are most furious about the decision...Purists think the remake is a crime too far. But we think our sizzling shots of Garner, star of hit movies Elektra and Juno, show it’s no mystery why audiences might want to see her in the role.”
      
Adam Thorn
       Columnist for the UK
News of the World
       In
an April 3, 2011 story about negative reactions to the casting of Jennifer Garner as Agatha Christie’s character Miss Marple in an upcoming movie remake.

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