Vol. 06 · Misquoted ·Attribution ·82 of 348
"First, do no harm. — Hippocratic Oath"
They never said that.
What people say
"First, do no harm. — Hippocratic Oath"
What was actually said
"Primum non nocere." Thomas Sydenham (attributed) — Not in the Hippocratic Oath — attributed to Thomas Sydenham, 17th century, in the Latin form
Why it stuck
The Hippocratic Oath does not contain "first, do no harm." Hippocrates said something similar in Epidemics ("Practice two things … help, or at least do no harm"), but the Latin aphorism is 17th-century medical tradition.
Modern medical oaths (Geneva Declaration, 1948) do not contain the phrase either. It is doctors' folklore, not formal scripture.
Know another line by heart?
Play the duel and see how many you can spot. Or browse the whole shelf.