Last Updated: March 6, 2023 by Quote.cc Team
Becoming a nurse is one of the most selfless acts a person can undertake. Nursing is a profession that requires superior intelligence, motivation, and determination. In a society of so many different races, cultures, customs, and beliefs, nurses are a universal gift to all. The dedicated work they do and the kindness they deliver daily should remind the fundamental humanity inside us all.
Working as a nurse means signing up for a life that barely pauses. While nurses are solid and hopeful people, challenging times are frequent, and nurses find themselves exhausted and needing encouragement to pick them up.
Enjoy these inspirational nurse quotes written by famous nursing personalities. This extensive list of the best nursing quotes celebrates our everyday heroes and encourages them to keep pushing forward. Take time to read and experience the potential and influence of nursing through these uplifting and funny nurse quotes!
Inspirational Quotes About Being A Nurse
Top 10 Nurses Quotes
“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs
“Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on Earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.” – Vincent Van Gogh
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.” – Dr. Seuss
“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
“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.” – Florence Nightingale
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale
“Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this something, at whatever cost, must be attained.” – Marie Curie
“Let us never consider ourselves finished, nurses…we must be learning all of our lives.” – Florence Nightingale
“Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.” – Mother Teresa
“Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon.” – Dag Hammarskjold
Thank You Nurses Quotes
“You treat a disease: you win, you lose. You treat a person, I guarantee you win—no matter the outcome.”
“You think Mondays are bad? Try working weekends, holidays, and 12 hour shifts!”
“You know you’re a nurse when your finger has gone places you never thought possible.”
“You know you work in healthcare when you can discuss puke and bowel movements at the lunch table and no one flinches.”
“You didn’t even know me, yet you treated me like family…I’ll never forget that. Thank you.”
“Who inspires me to be a nurse? Every nurse who doesn’t turn their back on nursing students, or graduate nurses, every nurse who acknowledges it’s okay and simply human to make foolish mistakes, every nurse who takes a moment of their time to help when you’re scared, and every nurse who remembers what it’s like to be a beginner.” – Anonymous Nurse
“While that’s correct… it’s not the most correct. This is nursing school.”
“Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation.” – Aristotle
“When you’re a nurse, you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch yours.”
“Nurses are angels in comfortable shoes.”
“Nurses are always there, you care for us from the earliest years. You look after us in our happiest and saddest times. And for many, you look after us and our families at the end of our lives. Your dedication and professionalism are awe-inspiring.” – Duchess Kate Middleton
See also: 400 Best Thank You Quotes and Sayings
Funny Nurses Quotes
“Treat the patient as a whole, not just the hole in the patient.”
“Shift change is my favorite time of day.”
“Save one person, you’re a hero. Save hundreds, you’re a nurse.”
“Remember: nurses are like icebergs. At any one time, you are only seeing what they are actually doing.” – Ian Miller
“Remember, I’m a nurse. You’re going to have to say a lot to gross me out.”
“Panic plays no part in the training of a nurse.” – Elizabeth Kenny
“Our job as nurses is to cushion the sorrow and celebrate the job, everyday, while we are “just doing our jobs”.” – Christine Belle
“Okay, tell me exactly what happened” is not the same as “Okay, tell me your life story.”
“Nursing school. One syllabus at a time. One class at a time. One exam at a time. One clinical at a time. Keep going…”
“Nursing is not for the empty of heart…nor the faint of heart. ”
“Nursing is not a career … it’s a post-apocalyptic survival skill.”
“Nursing friendships are a different kind of love; like, ‘I’ll hold the butt cheeks while you clean the butt crack’ kind of love!”
“Nurses—one of the few blessings of being ill.” – Sara Moss-Wolfe
“Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription.” – Val Saintsbury
“Nurses are there when the last breath is taken, and nurses are there when the first breath is taken. Although it is more enjoyable to celebrate the birth, it is just as important to comfort in death.” – Christine Belle
“Nurses are there when the last breath is taken, and nurses are there when the first breath is taken. Although it is more enjoyable to celebrate the birth, it is just as important to comfort in death.” – Christine Bell
“Nurses are the hospitality of the hospital.”
“Nurses are the heart of healthcare.” – Donna Wilk Cardillo
“Nurse: the first person you see after saying, ‘Hold my beer and watch this!’”
“Nurse: just another word to describe a person strong enough to tolerate everything and soft enough to understand everyone.”
“Nothing will work unless you do.” – Maya Angelou
“I’m a nurse. What’s your superpower?”
“I’m a nurse because ‘miracle worker’ isn’t an official title.”
“Not all angels have wings … some have scrubs.”
“No, RN does not stand for ‘Refreshments and Narcotics.’”
“No, I will not rub your feet. I am a nurse, not a masseur.”
“No matter how difficult the days may get, don’t forget the reason you became a nurse.”
“May your scrubs be comfy, your coffee be strong, and your Monday be short.”
“May your cup runneth over, unless it’s that urine specimen cup you’re trying to hand me.”
“I’m a nurse—nothing scares me.”
“I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions which bring results.” – Florence Nightingale
“I never dreamed about success—I worked for it.”
“I attribute my success to this; I never gave nor took any excuse.” – Florence Nightingale
“I am of certain convinced that the greatest heroes are those who do their duty in the daily grind of domestic affairs whilst the world whirls as a maddening dreidel.” – Florence Nightingale
“I am among those who think that science has great beauty.” – Marie Curie
“How many nurses does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None! They delegate it to the nursing student.”
“How can anybody hate nurses? Nobody hates nurses. The only time you hate a nurse is when they’re giving you an enema.” – Warren Beatty
“Have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts.” – Charles Dickens
“Hand sanitizer has started to become your best friend.”
“Bound by paperwork, short on hands, sleep, and energy… nurses are rarely short on caring.” – Sharon Hudacek
“Being a nurse means to hold all your own tears and start drawing smiles on people’s faces. Nursing is sacrificing.” – Dana Basem
“Being a nurse is weird: I can keep a poker face through trauma, but have a mental breakdown over losing my favorite pen.”
“Be the nurse you would want as a patient.”
“Be nice to me… I may be your nurse someday and remember…catheters and needles come in sizes that I choose!”
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle.” – Plato
Motivational Nurses Quotes
“When I heard 2020 was going to be the year of the nurse, this is not what I expected…”
“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” – Maya Angelou
“Way back before you were born, God knew there was a need. So God picked your fertile heart and planted a caring seed. Then He waited and He watched. Knowing before too long, the desire in you to help others would continue to grow strong.”
“Value what you do and add value by what you do.”
“Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” – Benjamin Spock
“The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists.” – Japanese proverb
“The 3 words most people want to hear: ‘I love you.’ The 3 words nurses want to hear: ‘Alert, Oriented, and Ambulatory.”
“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestation of strength and resolution.” – Kahlil Gibran
“Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
“Sometimes I inspire my patients; more often, they inspire me.”
“Sometimes I have to remind myself around my non-nurse friends not to talk about bodily functions.”
“So never lose an opportunity of urging a practical beginning, however small, for it is wonderful how often in such matters the mustard-seed germinates and roots itself.” – Florence Nightingale
“As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the mind, soul, heart, 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
“Apprehension, uncertainty, waiting, expectation, fear of surprise, do a patient more harm than any exertion.” – Florence Nightingale
“And the whole rhetoric around heroism and being an angel because you are a nurse I find unhelpful,” said Nicki Credland, and expert nurse. “We’re not angels, we’re not heroes, we are human beings that have chosen a career, that are highly educated, that work in a patient safety-critical profession, who simply want to go and do the job that we trained to do and be protected to do it.”
“America’s nurses are the beating heart of our medical system.” – Barack Obama
“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” – Duke Ellington
Famous Nurses Quotes
“Yes, I am a nurse. No, I don’t want to look at it.”
“When you feel like quitting, remember why you started.”
“When someone is going through a storm, your silent presence is more powerful than a million empty words.”
“When I think about all the patients and their loved ones I have worked with over the years, I know most of them don’t remember me, nor I them. But I do know that I gave a little piece of myself to each of them, and they to me, and those threads make up the tapestry that is my career in nursing.” – Donna Wilk Cardillo
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring; all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia
“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; that is to have succeeded.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can, in spite of all we go through; it to be a nurse.” – Rawsi Williams
“To accomplish great things, you must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.” – Anatole France
“They may FORGET your name, but they will NEVER FORGET how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
“The most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe.” – Florence Nightingale
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – William Shakespeare
“The character of the nurses is as important as the knowledge she possesses.” – Carolyn Javis
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Ghandi
“Hardships often prepare people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned or worn. It is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and attitude.” – Denis Waitley
“Happiness … consists of giving, and in serving others.” – Henry Drummond
“God appoints our graces to be NURSES to other men’s weaknesses.” – Henry Ward Beecher
Nurses Day Quotes
“A nurse will always give us hope, an angel with a stethoscope.” – Carrie Latet
“A nurse is one who opens the eyes of a newborn and gently closes the eyes of a dying man. It is indeed a high blessing to be the first and last to witness the beginning and end of life.”
“A nurse is not what you do. It is what you are…. I am a nurse. It’s not what I do, it’s what I am.”
“A nurse is compassion in scrubs.”
“A nurse dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription.” – Val Saintsbury
“A caress, a smile, is full of meaning for one who is sick. It is a simple gesture, but encouraging, he or she feels accompanied, feels closer to being healed, feels like a person, not a number.” – Pope Francis
“3 AM: the time when you remember you forgot to chart that thing, bring that lady her water, or pass that med.”
“..the hours are long, the work hard, and the pay inadequate to the amount of concentrated energy required. A nurse, however, does not view her profession dispassionately. It is too much a part of her.” – Monica Dickens
“I’ve come to the realization that I’ll touch anything as long as I have gloves on.”
“I’ve been a nurse for so long that I triage my laundry and have decided that none of it requires immediate attention.”
“I’m sure it’s a surprise but as your nurse, I’d like to inform you that the big ‘H’ you saw in the front of this building does NOT mean ‘Hilton’.”
“I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, I am telling you it’s going to be worth it.” – Art Williams
“Forgive yourself; you are not perfect. Show yourself grace; you are still learning. Show yourself patience; you are on a journey.”
“Fill your mind with truth. Fill your heart with love. Fill your life with service.”
Nurses Appreciation Quotes
“There no longer has to be a difference between who you are and what you do.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” – Albert Einstein
“The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm.” – Florence Nightingale
“The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest.” – William Osler
“The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life of the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, a means of locomotion for the newborn , knowledge and confidence for the young mother, a voice for those too weak to speak, and so on.” – Virginia Henderson
“Never underestimate the healing effects of beauty.” – Florence Nightingale
“Never give up on anybody. Miracles happen everyday.”
“Knowing is better than wondering, waking is better than sleeping, and even the biggest failure, even the worse, beats the hell out of never trying.”
“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” – Mark Twain
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.” – Mother Teresa
“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“Just so you know, doctors are here to diagnose, not heal. We heal.”
“It’s a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together.”
“It’s okay to learn from every experience, and it’s okay to make mistakes.” – Louise Hay
“It’s a beautiful thing when a career and a passion come together.”
“It would not be possible to praise nurses too highly.”
“It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing.” – Mother Teresa
“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.” – Salvador Dali
“If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything.” – Win Borden
“If you ever want to get punched in the throat by a nurse, say the words ‘it sure is quiet around here’ in the middle of their shift!”
“If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For passion will lead you right into your purpose.” – Bishop T.D Jakes
“If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone.” – John Maxwell
“Family dinner is not a construct, it’s a feeling.”
“Every nurse was drawn to nursing because of a desire to care, to serve, or to help.”
“Every nurse has that one patient that they’ll remember forever.”
“Every day may not be wonderful, but there is something wonderful in every day.”
“Don’t let anyone treat you like an expired 24 butterfly gauge. You are a #16 in the left forearm with excellent venous return!”
“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo
“Confidence is not ‘they will like me,’ confidence is “I’ll be fine if they don’t.” Successful people have fear, successful people have doubts, and successful people have worries. They just don’t let these feelings stop them.” – T. Harv Eker
“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”
“Caring is the essence of nursing.” – Jean Watson
“Care for one…that’s love. Care for hundreds…that’s nursing.”
Final Thoughts
Nurses endure long hours, sore feet, and complaints while calming scared patients and worried loved ones. Nurses are some of the most unique, caring people you’ll ever meet.
Send these encouraging quotes about nurses to any nurse you may know if you want to lift their spirits during a tough week at work. Or consider donating supplies to your local hospital if you have the means to do so, along with a sweet note with one of these quotes about nursing.
A small gesture could be the boost they needed to keep fighting for the well-being of all.
Which of these nurse quotes and sayings is your favorite quote? Planning on sharing them with a nurse? Let us know your plans below!