20 Inspirational Nursing Quotes


1). “Nursing is great for so many reasons, but there is one reason that means more than any poll results, amount of money, or job security: Nurses make a difference.”

2). “As nurses, we accomplish great deeds for our patients. From offering a patient level explanation of a medical procedure to restarting a stopped heart, we make a difference every single day. When my daughter was in high school, she often watched the TV show ER. After one particular episode, she announced to my wife and I that she was going to go to medical school and become a doctor. I have no problem with that at all. She followed that statement by saying that it must feel great to save someone’s life. I looked at my wife (also a nurse), and we smiled at each other. I said, ‘Yes, it is a great feeling.’”



3). “Bound by paperwork, short on hands, sleep, and energy … nurses are rarely short on caring.”

4). “Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring, even without a prescription.”

5). “When I think about all the patients and their loved ones that 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 beautiful tapestry in my mind that is my career in nursing.”

6). “As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

7). “Let’s start with the first benefit to nursing: Altruism – the unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness. Nurses help people. It’s that simple. In 2012, nurses once again appeared at the top of Gallup’s annual survey of “Most Trusted Professions.” The perception of our profession is that we care in many different forms of that word… Nurses help people. And in doing so, we receive the unmatched satisfaction of knowing that we have made a difference to patients and their families.”



8). “…although the days are busy and the workload is always growing, there are still those special moments when someone says or does something and you know you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. That’s why I became a nurse.”

9). “The RN’s role is huge. We advocate for and mediate between patients and physicians. We also get social services involved to work with insurance companies and we give the patient the care that they deserve.”

10). “As more and more people – families of hospice patients and hospice volunteers – are exposed to this new model of how to approach end-of-life care, we are taking what was essentially a hidden scene – death, an unknown – and making it a reality. We are showing people that there are meaningful ways to cope with this very difficult situation.”

​11). “Bottom line? If you want a job where you can literally change lives, nursing might be for you. And it will be the hardest thing you have ever done in your life. But it can be awesome.”

12). “I practice on many different levels and I take care of all different kinds of patients. It’s challenging and provides autonomy. I’ve done it for over 25 years and there isn’t a day I’ve regretted picking it up.”



13). “When I first started working in longterm care, after I’d been in a hospital setting, I bet I went home crying every night for 6 weeks because I said this just isn’t what I like. But the more I stayed, the more I understood it’s a different kind of nursing…We’re all going to die—that’s a part of life. Just when and how, we don’t know.”

14). “We often think of nursing as giving meds on time, checking an X-ray to see if the doctor needs to be called, or taking an admission at 2:00 a.m. with a smile on our faces. Too often, we forget all the other things that make our job what it truly is caring and having a desire to make a difference.”

15). “The phenomenon of the nurse-patient relationship and its ability to affect the overall treatment of a patient is a central topic to the studying of nursing. The focus is usually on the ability of the nurse to impact the patient, but we often forget how much the patient can impact the nurse.”

16). “Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon.”



17). “Our job as nurses is to cushion the sorrow and celebrate the joy, everyday, while are are ‘just doing our jobs’.”

18). “As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the heart, mind, soul and body of our patients, their families and ourselves. They may not remember your name but they will never forget the way you made them feel.”

19). “The definition of a nurse: To go above and beyond the call of duty. The first to work and the last to leave. The heart and soul of caring. who will pass through your life for a minute and impact it for an eternity. An empowered individual whom you may meet for only a 12-hour period, but who will put you and yours above theirs.”

20).​ “The longer I’m in the profession, the more experiences shape my life, the more amazing colleagues influence me, the more I see the micro and macro power of nursing.”

See also Qid medical abbreviation