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Historical note:

Paracelsus (1493-1541) was an alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general occultist. Born Phillip von Hohenheim, he later took up the name Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, and still later took the title Paracelsus, meaning "equal to or greater than Celsus", a Roman encyclopedist from the first century known for his tract on medicine. At the age of 16 he started studying medicine at the University of Basel, later moving to Vienna. He obtained his doctorate degree from the University of Ferrara. Paracelsus, sometimes called the father of toxicology, wrote: "All things are poison and nothing is without poison, only the dose permits something not to be poisonous."
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Paracelcus on medicine:-

Paracelsus stated, “The physician comes from nature, from nature he is born; only he who receives his experience from nature is a physician, and not he who writes, speaks, and acts with his head and with ratiocination’s aimed against nature and her ways”. “If you apply an art, let it be only in the light of nature, and not in superficial action.”

“It must not surprise the physician that nature is more than his art. For what can equal the forces of nature? He who has no expert knowledge of them has not mastered the art of medicine. In one herb there is more virtue and force than in all the folios that are read in the high colleges and that are not fated to live long.”

“Every physician must be rich in knowledge, and not only of that which is written in books; his patients should be his book, they will never mislead him…and by them he will never be deceived. But he who is content with mere letters is like a dead man; and he is like a dead physician. As a man and as a physician, he kills his patient.”

Paracelsus spelled out what the best qualifications of a good surgeon are:

A clear conscience,
Desire to learn and to gather experience,
A gentle heart and a cheerful spirit,
Moral manner of life and sobriety in all things,
Greater regard for his honor than for money,
Greater interest in being useful to his patient than to himself,
He should not practice self-abuse,
He must not act without judgment,
He must not accept belief without understanding,
He must not boast of knowing anything without experience,
He must never boast or praise himself,
He should know all the vulnerary herbs,
He should know the articulations of nature and all her properties,
He should know all the tissue-forming remedies,
He should know all the essences.
Paracelsus also had a very interesting thought when he stated, “the longer the book, the less the intelligence; the longer the prescriptions, the poorer their virtue. Therefore each physician should achieve great things by means of small things.”

Paracelsus achieved many wonderful and incredible results during his life. But at all times he considered medicine a sacred task and the practice by a physician to be the noblest of all activities. In summing up his theories he believed that the physician should be a good listener and observer. Listen to your patient; listen to nature who speaks to those who humbly come looking for answers.

(Source: the picture and the historical note were found, of all places, at the bottom of a med journal article about vent weaning, and the "Paracelsus on medicine" text was sent along by debriswoman a while back, from the BMJ).