Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry.

The following nurse quotes recognize the strength, resilience, and intelligence of nurses. 

How has a nurse helped you in the past? 

The importance of nurses in our healthcare system can’t be overstated.

They make many sacrifices during their shifts to ensure the betterment of their patients.

Today’s collection of quotes is celebrating nurses and all they do for public health.

These quotes will also be discussing some of the many characteristics that make a great nurse, including compassion and passion for helping others. 

We hope you enjoy the inspirational quotes below.

Let’s give a big thank you to nurses!

Powerful nurse quotes

1. “Bound by paperwork, short on hands, sleep, and energy… nurses are rarely short on caring.” – Sharon Hudacek

2. “Nurses are a unique kind. They have this insatiable need to care for others, which is both their greatest strength and fatal flaw.” – Dr. Jean Watson

3. “Every nurse was drawn to nursing because of a desire to care, to serve, or to help.” — Christina Feist-Heilmeier

4. “Nurses encompasses an art, a humanistic orientation, a feeling for the value of the individual, and an intuitive sense of ethics, and of the appropriateness of action taken.” – Myrtle Aydelotte

5. “Nurses: one of the few blessings of being ill.” – Sara Moss-Wolfe

6. “If love can’t cure it, nurses can.” – Unknown

7. “The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest.” – William Osler

8. “A nurse dispenses comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription.” – Val Saintsbury

9. “Save one life and you’re a hero, save one hundred lives and you’re a nurse.” ― Unknown

10. “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

11. “A nurse will always give us hope, an Angel with a stethoscope.” – Terri Guillemets

12. “A nurse is compassion in scrubs.” – Lexie Saige

13. “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

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

15. “Nurses are the heart of healthcare.” – Donna Wilk Cardillo

16. “America’s nurses are the beating heart of our medical system.” – President Barack Obama

17. “Nurses may not be angels, but they are the next best thing.” – Unknown

Nurse quotes about compassion

18. “Let us fill our hearts with our own compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

19. “Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” – Albert Einstein

20. “We are each made for goodness, love and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live with these truths.” – Desmond Tutu

21. “Compassion alone stands apart from the continuous traffic between good and evil proceeding within us.” – Eric Hoffer

22. “Compassion does not just happen. Pity does, but compassion is not pity. It’s not a feeling. Compassion is a viewpoint, a way of life, a perspective, a habit that becomes a discipline – and more than anything else, compassion is a choice we make that love is more important than comfort or convenience.” – Glennon Doyle Melton

23. “Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves.” – Mason Cooley

24. “True compassion means not only feeling another’s pain but also being moved to help relieve it.” – Daniel Goleman

25. “Compassion isn’t morose; it’s something replenishing and opening; that’s why it makes us happy.” – Sharon Salzberg

26. “Creating unity and compassion and understanding of each of our brothers and sisters is so powerful. We have to preach that to the ones that don’t want to listen and understand.” – Bubba Wallace

27. “Love is cheering and sharing and compassion and giving and receiving. Love is an action thing more than a word thing, that brings comfort or joy or relief to anyone or anything.” – Ziggy Marley

28. “If we want to create a viable, peaceful world, we’ve got to integrate compassion into the gritty realities of 21st-century life.” – Karen Armstrong

29. “Compassion is a call, a demand of nature, to relieve the unhappy as hunger is a natural call for food.” – Joseph Butler

30. “The sturdiest pillars of human morality are compassion and a sense of justice.” – Frans de Waal

31. “Compassion automatically invites you to relate with people because you no longer regard people as a drain on your energy.” – Chogyam Trungpa

Nurse quotes about health

32. “Health is the soul that animates all the enjoyments of life, which fade and are tasteless without it.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca

33. “The first wealth is health.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

34. “To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.” – Buddha

35. “Health is not valued till sickness comes.” – Thomas Fuller

36. “Rest when you’re weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.” – Ralph Marston

37. “The body is a sacred garment.” – Martha Graham

38. “The groundwork of all happiness is health.” – Leigh Hunt

39. “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Nurse quotes about helping others

40. “Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation.” – Aristotle

41. “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

42. “Pioneering spirit should continue, not to conquer the planet or space … but rather to improve the quality of life.” — Bertrand Piccard

43. “They may forget your name but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou

44. “Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels, simply by pouring out love. Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy.” – Sai Baba

45. “The end of all knowledge should be service to others.” – Cesar Chavez

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to check out our collection of Cesar Chavez quotes from the iconic activist.

46. “The most important service to others is service to those who are not like yourself.” – J. Irwin Miller

47. “Everyone has a purpose in life and a unique talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals.” – Kallam Anji Reddy

48. “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Shakespeare

49. “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to have succeeded.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

50. “Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living.” – Albert Einstein

More Nurse quotes and sayings

51. “Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon.” – Dag Hammarskjold

52. “Always thank your nurse. Sometimes they’re the only one between you and a hearse.” – Warren Beatty

53. “Nurses serve their patients in the most important capacities. We know that they serve as our first lines of communication when something goes wrong or when we are concerned about health.” – Lois Capps

54. “Nursing is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts.” – Florence Nightingale

55. “The nurses were all angels in my eyes.” – Randy Castillo

56. “Nurses – nurses, you’m all the same. Full of cheerfulness over other people’s troubles.” – Agatha Christie

57. “One day treats us like a hireling nurse, another like a mother.” – Publilius Syrus

58. “Men are not taking women’s jobs, which are good jobs. Being a nurse is an excellent job.” – Stephen Marche

59. “My sister is a nurse and saves people’s lives.” – Nicholas Lea

60. “Let us have compassion upon each other, and let the strong tenderly nurse the weak into strength, and let those who can see guide the blind until they can see the way for themselves.” – Brigham Young

Nurse Quotes About The Profession 

61. “It would not be possible to praise nurses too highly.” – Stephen Ambrose

62. “Nurses are in unique positions to make a difference every day locally, nationally, and globally for patients, the profession, and individually,” — Patricia Jakel

63. “As a father, as a husband, I will forever be in debt to the women and men of the nursing profession” — Barack Obama

64. “It’s so inspiring to see nurses and healthcare team has taken the challenges and risen to the challenge to care for our community in new ways,” — Erica Prough

65. “As nurses, we all feel that. We’re called to help no matter what happens.” — Courtney Brickner

66. “The bravery of nursing is amazing.” — Brittany Uglesich

67. “Going into health care, you have to be ready on your feet and take what comes at you.” — Aisha Diallo

68. “To every nurse and midwife, I say thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You have our deep admiration, respect, and gratitude.” — Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

69. “One of the lessons I hope the world learns from COVID-19 is that we must invest in nurses and midwives.” — Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

70. “Every day, nurses are putting themselves at risk to alleviate suffering and save lives.” — Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Nurse Quotes To Honor and Celebrate The Frontline Health Workers

71. “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

72. “The character of the nurse is as important as the knowledge she possesses.” — Carolyn Jarvis

73. “Let us never consider ourselves finished, nurses. We must be learning all of our lives.” — Florence Nightingale

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

75. “Our job as nurses is to cushion the sorrow and celebrate the job, every day, while we are ‘just doing our jobs.’” — Christine Belle

76. “Caring is the essence of nursing.” — Jean Watson

77. “Every nurse is an Angel with a Key for a Healthy Community! All in Caring for Patients is part of Nursing Soul!” — Aleksandar Radenovi

78. “Nurses have come a long way in a few short decades. In the past, our attention focused on physical, mental and emotional healing. Now we talk of healing your life, healing the environment, and healing the planet.” — Lynn Keegan

79. “Whether a person is a male or female, a nurse is a nurse.” — Gary Veale

80. “As nurses, we know suffering. We are fully aware of how precious each moment of life is.” — Patricia Bratianu

Nurse Quotes To Make Embrace The Nursing Career

81. “In Canada… we should be there for the nurses, cause they are always there for us.” ― Rick Mercer

82. “I am a fantastic nurse. I discovered this about myself, and I’m really fantastic at diagnosing things.” ― Jill Flint

83. “I feel passionate about nurses. I would do anything for nurses. Anything.” ― Eve Ensler

84. “Do you have a little white dress? I’ve had this deep-seated nurse fantasy about you, Murphy.” ― Jim Butcher

85. “We would love to see walking groups more widely recommended by physicians, health trainers and nurses.” ― Sarah Hanson-Young

86. “I didn’t want just any career, so I am not going to be just any nurse.” ― Denise Richards

87. “I am currently in nursing school, so one day I will be both a nurse and a writer.” ― Liza Campbell

88. “And as a nurse, I know very well the importance, for example, of electronic medical records.” ― Lois Capps

89. “I’m dating a girl who’s pretty level headed. She’s a nurse. She’s a real, normal girl. Which is what I need because my life isn’t normal.” ― Kenny Chesney

90. “Your developed countries are taking teachers from South Africa, they are taking nurses, because people are better paid where they are going.” ― Thabo Mbeki

How have you said thank you to nurses? 

If you know a nurse, take time out of your day to thank them.

Whether you send a comforting text message during their shift or buy them a takeout meal afterward, an act of kindness can alleviate some stress within their busy schedule.

A small gesture could be the boost they needed to keep fighting for the well-being of all. 

If you don’t know a nurse personally, reach out to a local hospital.

There may be programs available to support nurses and other frontline workers. 

Which of these nurse quotes and sayings is your favorite quote?

Planning on sharing them with a nurse?

Let us know your plans below!