Health, habit, happiness – 80 inspirational quotes and proverbs on the importance of physical and mental health
Multiple waves of the pandemic are reminding us more than ever before about the importance of health. These quotes and proverbs inspire us to appreciate the wealth of health.
At a personal, social, and national level, the coronavirus pandemic has shone a harsh spotlight on the importance of health infrastructure and governance, and its gaping holes in many countries. In this compilation, YourStory presents 80 quotes and proverbs on why and how we must bring physical, mental and spiritual health back to centre stage.
See our extensive coverage of the coronavirus pandemic over the past year, and our COVID-19 Resource Centre. Check out our weekly quotes compilation Storybites, and picks of 60 Quotes on Crisis Management and 70 Quotes on the Power of Hope.
YourStory salutes the entire healthcare community and frontline workers for their heroic efforts during the pandemic, and extends our support and comfort to all those struggling with a sense of loss and gloom.
Health is not valued until sickness comes. - Thomas Fuller
Health is more than the absence of disease. Health is about jobs and employment, education, the environment, and all of those things that go into making us healthy. - Joycelyn Elders
Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind, and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open. - BKS Iyengar
It is health that is the real wealth, and not pieces of gold and silver. - Mahatma Gandhi
Health is the greatest possession. Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend. - Lao Tzu
Keeping your body healthy is an expression of gratitude to the whole cosmos - the trees, the clouds, everything. - Thich Nhat Hanh
Happiness is the highest form of health. - Dalai Lama
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. -Buddha
Health is a state of complete mental, social and physical well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. - World Health Organisation
It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. - Jiddu Krishnamurti
To keep the body in good health is a duty - otherwise we shall not be able to keep the mind strong and clear. - Buddha
Treasure your well-being as your greatest wealth. - Lailah Gifty Akita
The greatest wealth is health. - Virgil
Sickness - nature’s vengeance for violating her laws. - Charles Simmons
[Ebola’s] emergence into human populations required the special assistance of humanity's greatest vices: greed, corruption, arrogance, tyranny, and callousness. - Laurie Garrett
Endangering human life for profit should be a universal crime. - Suzy Kassem
It is hard to talk about a middle ground for something that is a fundamental right. - Teri Reynolds
We should resolve now that the health of this nation is a national concern; that financial barriers in the way of attaining health shall be removed; that the health of all its citizens deserves the help of all the nation. - Harry S. Truman
Remember, too, that at a time when people are very concerned with their health and its relationship to what they eat, we have handed over the responsibility for our nourishment to faceless corporations. - Lynne Rossetto Kasper
If it came from a plant, eat it. If it was made in a plant, don’t. - Michael Pollan
Health and cheerfulness are brothers. - William Hardcastle Browne
Health is a vehicle, not a destination. - Joshua Fields Millburn
Health is being in harmony with the world view. Health is an intuitive perception of the universe and all its inhabitants as being of one fabric. - Jeanne Achterberg
Health is hearty, health is harmony, health is happiness. - Amit Kalantri
Health is the crown on the well person’s head that only the ill person can see. - Robin Sharma
Health isn’t about being perfect with food or exercise or herbs. Health is about balancing those things with your desires. It’s about nourishing your spirit as well as your body. - Golda Poretsky
One billion people in the world are chronically hungry. One billion people are overweight. - Mark Bittman
A day is long, but a lifetime is short. - Russian proverb
A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought - they must be earned. - Naval Ravikant
A fit, healthy body—that is the best fashion statement. - Jess C Scott
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book. - Irish proverb
A healthy body is a guest-chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison. - Marcus Valerius Martialis
A healthy outside starts from the inside. - Robert Urich
A man's health can be judged by which he takes two at a time, pills or stairs. - Joan Welsh
A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses. - Hippocrates
All the money in the world can't buy you back good health. - Reba McEntire
An old patient is better than a new doctor. - Kannada proverb
Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint. - Mark Twain
Cakes are healthy too, you just eat a small slice. - Mary Berry
Creativity is a fragrance of real health. When a person is really healthy and whole, creativity comes naturally to him, the urge to create arises. - Osho
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Each patient carries his own doctor inside him. - Norman Cousins
Every negative belief weakens the partnership between mind and body. - Deepak Chopra
Good health and good sense are two of life’s greatest blessings. - Publilius Syrus
Good health is not something we can buy. However, it can be an extremely valuable savings account. - Anne Wilson Schaef
He who has health has hope; and he who has hope has everything. - Arabic proverb
Humor and health, the staples of wealth. - S Austin
I believe that the greatest gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy you. - Joyce Meyer
I stand in awe of my body. - Henry David Thoreau
If you truly treat your body like a temple, it will serve you well for decades. If you abuse it you must be prepared for poor health and a lack of energy. - Oli Hille
It is easier to change a man's religion than to change his diet. - Margaret Mead
It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor. - Marcus Tullius Cicero
It is in the balancing of your spirituality with your humanity that you will find immeasurable happiness, success, good health, and love. - Steve Maraboli
Keep your vitality. A life without health is like a river without water. - Maxime Lagacé
Let your body be your holy temple. - Lailah Gifty Akita
Life is like a tree and its root is consciousness. Therefore, once we tend the root, the tree as a whole will be healthy. - Deepak Chopra
Life is not merely being alive, but being well. - Marcus Valerius Martialis
Love yourself enough to live a healthy lifestyle. - Jules Robson
Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively. - Sharon Salzberg
Mental health is an integral part of health; indeed, there is no health without mental health. - WHO
Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it. - Sharon Salzberg
Most people have no idea how good their body is designed to feel. - Kevin Trudeau
Our bodies are our gardens - our wills are our gardeners. - William Shakespeare
Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness. - Joseph Pilates
Prevention is better than cure. - Desiderius Erasmus
Respect your body. Eat well. Dance forever. - Eliza Gaynor Minden
So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health. - AJ Reb Materi
Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live. - Jim Rohn
The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted. - Mother Teresa
The body is wiser than its inhabitants. The body is the soul. The body is God’s messenger. - Erica Jong
The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patients in care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease. - Thomas Edison
The firewood gathered when you are healthy warms you when sick. - Bakiga proverb
The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison. - Ann Wigmore
The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness. - Arthur Schopenhauer
The groundwork of all happiness is good health. - James Leigh Hunt
The man who earns a million but destroys his health in the process is not really a success. - Zig Ziglar
The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results. - Tony Robbins
The mud of one country is the medicine of another. - Afghan proverb
The winners in life treat their body as if it were a magnificent spacecraft that gives them the finest transportation and endurance for their lives. - Denis Waitley
There are some remedies worse than the disease. - Publilius Syrus
There's nothing more important than our good health, that's our principal capital asset. - Arlen Specter
Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness. - Edward Smith-Stanley
Walking is a spiritual journey and a reflection of living. - Edie Littlefield Sundby
What drains your spirit drains your body. What fuels your spirit fuels your body. - Carolyn Myss
When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied. - Herophilus
When you feel yourself to be in critical condition, you must treat yourself as gently as you would a sick friend. - Julia Cameron
Will is a skill. - Jillian Michaels
Work is half of health. - Swedish proverb
You find when you pursue a life of greater health and happiness, you then treat the body you have with dignity, respect, and absolute care. - Dale Roberts
Your body holds deep wisdom. Trust in it. Learn from it. Nourish it. Watch your life transform and be healthy. - Bella Bleue
Your health is what you make of it. Everything you do and think either adds to the vitality, energy and spirit you possess or takes away from it. - Ann Wigmore
YourStory has also published the pocketbook ‘Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups’ as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android).
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