Avicenna
Avicenna
Avicennawas a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age...
ProfessionPhilosopher
mean medicine body
Medicine considers the human body as to the means by which it is cured and by which it is driven away from health.
essence existence
That whose existence is necessary must necessarily be one essence.
strong taken wine
But the fact is that when wine is taken in moderation, it gives rise to a large amount of breath, whose character is balanced, and whose luminosity is strong and brilliant. Hence wine disposes greatly to gladness, and the person is subject to quite trivial exciting agents. The breath now takes up the impression of agents belonging to the present time more easily than it does those which relate to the future; it responds to agents conducive to delight rather than those conducive to a sense of beauty.
water earth virtue
It is in the nature of water ... to become transformed into earth through a predominating earthy virtue; ... it is in the nature of earth to become transformed into water through a predominating aqueous virtue.
matter strive cures
When you do not know the nature of the malady, leave it to nature; do not strive to hasten matters. For either nature will bring about the cure or it will itself reveal clearly what the malady really is.
wine darkness fool
Is it the fault of wine if a fool drinks it and goes stumbling into darkness?
short-life length width
I [prefer] a short life with width to a narrow one with length.
lightning brilliant disappear
The more brilliant the lightning, the quicker it disappears.
art health mean
Medicine is the science by which we learn the various states of the human body in health and when not in health, and the means by which health is likely to be lost and, when lost, is likely to be restored back to health. In other words, it is the art whereby health is conserved and the art whereby it is restored after being lost. While some divide medicine into a theoretical and a practical [applied] science, others may assume that it is only theoretical because they see it as a pure science. But, in truth, every science has both a theoretical and a practical side.
causes all-things known
The knowledge of anything, since all things have causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by its causes.
doctors ignorant camps
An ignorant doctor is the aide-de-camp of death.
spiritual space essence
God, the supreme being, is neither circumscribed by space, nor touched by time; he cannot be found in a particular direction, and his essence cannot change. The secret conversation is thus entirely spiritual; it is a direct encounter between God and the soul, abstracted from all material constraints.
wisdom prayer islamic
Prayer is that which enables the soul to realize its divinity. Through prayer human beings worship absolute truth, and seek an eternal reward. Prayer is the foundation-stone of religion; and religion is the means by which the soul is purified of all that pollutes it. Prayer is the worship of the first cause of all things, the supreme ruler of all the world, the source of all strength. Prayer is the adoration of the one whose being is necessary.
length-of-life important life-is
Width of life is more important than length of life.