Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

Florence Nightingale Nurse

  • Gender: Female
  • Citizenship: England
  • Born: May 12, 1820
  • Died: Aug 13, 1910

Florence Nightingale, OM, RRC was a celebrated English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. She came to prominence while serving as a nurse during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was known as "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night.

Early 21st century commentators have asserted Nightingale's achievements in the Crimean War had been exaggerated by the media at the time, to satisfy the public's need for a hero, but her later achievements remain widely accepted. In 1860, Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment of her nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London. It was the first secular nursing school in the world, now part of King's College London. The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honour, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday.

Women have no sympathy and my experience of women is almost as large as Europe. experience, sympathy & women

I attribute my success to this - I never gave or took any excuse. success

How very little can be done under the spirit of fear. fear

The world is put back by the death of every one who has to sacrifice the development of his or her peculiar gifts to conventionality. death

St. Patrick's Day March 17, 2025

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