The Best Nurses Quotes

2020 marks the “International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife" in honor of the 200th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. And while we need to celebrate nurses all year long, May 6-12 is designated as "Nurses Week". We have compiled some of our favorite nurse and caring quotes to recognize all nurses who give so selflessly all year long. Thank you for your dedication to serving those in need.

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest accomplishment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia 

“Nurses are the hospitality of the hospital.” – Anonymous 

“When you’re a nurse you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch yours.” - Anonymous 

“You don’t build a house without its foundation. You don’t build a hospital without its Nurses.” – Anonymous 

“You’re going to be there when a lot of people are born, and when a lot of people die. In most every culture, such moments are regarded as sacred and private, made special by a divine presence. No one on Earth would be welcomed, but you’re personally invited. What an honor that is.” – Thom Dick 

“As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou 

“Nursing is not for everyone. It takes a very strong, intelligent, and compassionate person to take on the ills of the world with passion and purpose and work to maintain the health and well-being of the planet. No wonder we’re exhausted at the end of the day!” – Donna Wilk Cardillo 

“Being a nurse means to hold all your own tears and start drawing smiles on people’s faces.” 
– Dana Basem 

“You treat a disease: You win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you win—no matter the outcome.” – Patch Adams 

“Just always remember that we, nurses, are unique. We have the power to promote comfort and relieve strife. Many times we are gifted with the privilege of seeing rapid results of our caring actions. The true benefits of nursing are felt in our minds and hearts. No matter how hard we try, only a nurse can truly understand and appreciate the magnitude of our job.” - Florence Nightingale 

“To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through… that is what it is to be a nurse.” – Rawsi Williams 

“Nurses help people. And in doing so, we receive the unmatched satisfaction of knowing that we have made a difference to patients and their families.” – Dawn Marino, RN, BSN, HNB-BC 

“Definition of a nurse: To go above and beyond the call of duty. The first to work and the last to leave. The heart and soul of caring. A unique soul who will pass through your life for a minute and impact it for an eternity. An empowered individual whom you may meet only for a 12 hour period, but who will put you and yours above theirs.” -Anonymous 

“The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life for the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, a means of locomotion for the infant, the knowledge and confidence of the young mother, and a voice for those too weak to speak.” – Virginia Henderson

“It would not be possible to praise nurses too highly.” - Stephen Ambrose, historian and author 

“Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts." -  Florence Nightingale