110+ Bernie Siegel Quotes On Death, Happiness And Compassionate

Bernie Siegel is an American physician, author, and lecturer known for his work in the field of holistic medicine. He is best known for his book Love, Medicine and Miracles, which was published in 1986 and explores the power of the patient's mind in healing. He is also known for his work in promoting patient empowerment and the use of humor in healing. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Bernie Siegel on love, life, death.

Top 10 Bernie Siegel Quotes

1. Diseases can be our spiritual flat tires - disruptions in our lives that seem to be disasters at the time but end by redirecting our lives in a meaningful way.
2. Compliments are the helium that fills everyone's balloon; they elevate the person receiving them so he or she can fly over life's troubles and land safely on the other side.
3. Embrace each challenge in your life as an opportunity for self-transformation.
4. Your body loves you, but if you do not love your life, it will end it far sooner, thinking it is doing you a favor.
5. Love releases incredible energy that promotes the biochemistry of healing.
6. One cannot get through life without pain...What we can do is choose how to use the pain life presents to us.
7. It's not about curing the disease, but healing the life; then the physical benefits come.
8. Act as if you are the person you want to be.
9. When you love the unlovable and forgive the unforgivable, you’re free.
10. There is no such thing as an incurable disease, only incurable people.

Bernie Siegel Short Quotes

• No matter what the statistics say there is always a way.
• The simple truth is that happy people generally don't get sick
• I wish medical schools helped us to analyze our healthy and unhealthy reasons for becoming doctors.
• Feel your feelings. What you bring forth will save you.
• Unconditional love is the most powerful stimulant to the immune system.
• Traditional doctors say I'm a mystic. I don't deny it.
• Animal intuitives can diagnose an animal's physical health problems by listening to the animals.
• Don't do things to not die, do things to enjoy living. The by-product may be not dying.
• Consciousness is non-local and does not depend on words to communicate.
• You can't control the world, but when you control your thoughts, you bring order.

Bernie Siegel Quotes About Love

God wants us to know that life is a series of beginnings not endings. Just as graduations are not terminations but commencements. Creation is an ongoing process and when we create a perfect world where love and compassion are shared by all suffering will cease. — Bernie Siegel

I love how Mother Theresa said she wouldn't attend an anti-war rally but if there was a peace rally to call her. So I realized it's not about waging a war against everybody's disease and diagnosis but rather about helping them live. — Bernie Siegel

For me, a lovely day is any day I wake up. — Bernie Siegel

The fundamental problem most patients have is an inability to love themselves, having been unloved by others during some crucial part of their lives. — Bernie Siegel

Feelings aroused by the touch of someones hand, the sound of music, the smell of a flower, a beautiful sunset, a work of art, love, laughter, hope and faith - all work on both the unconscious and the conscious aspects of the self, and they have physiological consequences as well. — Bernie Siegel

It takes more distress and poison to kill someone who has peace of mind and loves life. — Bernie Siegel

Love and peace of mind do protect us. They allow us to overcome the problems that life hands us. They teach us to survive... to live now... to have the courage to confront each day. — Bernie Siegel

It is astounding how much the immune system is strengthened by reducing daily mental stress levels with either visualization or meditation. The other great tonic for the immune system is love—loving ourselves as well as others. — Bernie Siegel

The #1 problem most patients face is the inability to love themselves — Bernie Siegel

If you see what you do each day as your way of loving the world and helping it heal, then life gets to be a lot different. The difference between burning up and burning out is the difference between loving what you are doing and not loving it. — Bernie Siegel

Bernie Siegel Quotes About Life

If God came in and said, I want you to be happy for the rest of your life, what would you do? — Bernie Siegel

Having pets in the house helps everyone have a reverence for life. — Bernie Siegel

Relationships keep us alive and our lives meaningful. — Bernie Siegel

Disease is surely one of the ways in which we are tried by life and offered the chance to be heroic. Though few of us will win Olympic gold medals or slay dragons, disease can be the spark or gift that allows many of us to live out our personal myths and become heroes. — Bernie Siegel

Inspiration is the greatest gift because it opens your life to many new possibilities. Each day becomes more meaningful, and your life is enhanced when your actions are guided by what inspires you. — Bernie Siegel

If you love people, you'll enjoy your life. If you don't, you won't love anything you do. — Bernie Siegel

Getting well is not the only goal. Even more important is learning to live without fear, to be at peace with life and ultimately death. — Bernie Siegel

Life is an opportunity to contribute love in your own way. — Bernie Siegel

Don't try to help people to 'not die', help them to enjoy life! — Bernie Siegel

There's very little that shocks me because I consider life a miracle so I guess what shocks me is that life exists. How the hell did we get here? What shocks me is that bacteria alter their genes and resist antibiotics and viruses resist vaccines. — Bernie Siegel

Bernie Siegel Famous Quotes And Sayings

I am convinced that unconditional love is the most powerful known stimulant of the immune system. If I told patients to raise their blood levels of immune globulins or killer T cells, no one would know how. But if I can teach them to love themselves and others fully, the same changes happen automatically. The truth is: love heals. — Bernie Siegel

Being a survivor doesn't mean being strong - it's telling people when you need a meal or a ride, company, whatever. It's paying attention to heart wisdom, feelings, not living a role, but having a unique, authentic life, having something to contribute, finding time to love and laugh. All these things are qualities of survivors. — Bernie Siegel

I see people who die a few minutes after a doctor tells them there is no hope of a cure. They give up and go. Others get angry and find joy in proving the doctor wrong. Something within them is challenged and hopeful. Hope is the divine motivator. — Bernie Siegel

Every time I jog through the world, I am awed by what I find. On a winter morning, when it seems too cold and slippery for safe jogging or bicycling, I can still go out and experience the glory of sunlight turning icy branches into strings of sparkling diamonds. — Bernie Siegel

What thoughts are so important that it is worth holding on to them even when they make you miserable? Why are you holding on? You are in charge of your thoughts and feelings. If you are willing to search for the reason that you can't let go of disturbing thoughts, you can learn about yourself and restore your own peace of mind. — Bernie Siegel

When guilt rears its ugly head confront it, discuss it and let it go. The past is over. It is time to ask what can we do right, not what did we do wrong. Forgive yourself and move on. — Bernie Siegel

We are here to feel, wonder and gaze in awe at the world. Instead of just teaching our children how to use things and do things, I suggest we nourish their sense of wonder. — Bernie Siegel

So you grow up with those messages, "You're a failure, you embarrass me, that's why I dress you in dark colors etc." or even when parents commit suicide, the child may think they were a failure as a child causing that. The majority of those people who weren't loved turn to drugs and alcohol and suicide. — Bernie Siegel

The inexplicable happens all the time. It makes more sense to simply accept things we observe but cannot understand. It is really more scientific to keep an open mind. Until we can understand and explain the things we now label miracles, let us accept them and try to create more of them. — Bernie Siegel

We destroy ourselves when we stop feeling. If you bury your feelings within you, you become a graveyard. — Bernie Siegel

Most of us never stop to consider our blessings; rather, we spend the day only thinking about our problems. But since you have to be alive to have problems, be grateful for the opportunity to have them. — Bernie Siegel

Medicine is a very tough thing. I mean, everyone is going to die. Sooner or later. That's a tough thing to face. — Bernie Siegel

It can be tempting to blame others for our loss of direction. We get lots of information about life but little education in life from parents, teachers, and other authority figures who should know better from their experience. Information is about facts. Education is about wisdom and the knowledge of how to love and survive. — Bernie Siegel

I believe consciousness is non-local and a big part of what we experience with near death and past lives. It's the consciousness that has come into us from other experiences and our consciousness that we remain aware of when we leave our bodies and they communicate with us through dreams, and even through drawings which I do a lot of work with myself. — Bernie Siegel

If a person can turn from predicting illness to anticipating recovery, the foundation for cure is laid. — Bernie Siegel

Love and kindness are the basis of my religious beliefs. The rituals and outward signs are not as important as one's actions and deeds. Religion should be a path to God, not something to fight about. — Bernie Siegel

The doctor that acts out of love doesn't burn out. He or she may get tired physically, but not emotionally. — Bernie Siegel

Our Creator has given us five senses to help us survive threats from the external world, and a sixth sense, our healing system, to help us survive internal threats. — Bernie Siegel

I had patients who didn't die because they had too many pets to try to find homes for. It's why women live longer than men with the same health problems. — Bernie Siegel

I truly feel the best doctors are ones who are criticized by nurses, patients and family. They do not make excuses and learn from their mistakes. — Bernie Siegel

When I experience something, I believe it. I almost choked to death when I was a four year old and had a near death experience. I was very upset that I didn't die because it was a lot more interesting out of your body than in it. — Bernie Siegel

I performed wound care or minor surgery, I would always apologize for any pain I was causing the animal and they would lick my hand and not bite me out of anger due to the pain. They are also far more forgiving than people are of human beings and other animals. — Bernie Siegel

Doctors are busy playing God when so few of us have the qualifications. And besides, the job is taken. — Bernie Siegel

Give someone who has faith in you a placebo and call it a hair growing pill, anti-nausea pill or whatever, and you will be amazed at how many respond to your therapy. — Bernie Siegel

As doctors, we are not trained to communicate and understand the power of our words as they relate to a patient's ability and desire to survive. — Bernie Siegel

Do not be afraid to love. Remember dear old Don Quixote, viewing the world with love. He saw many beautiful things no one else saw. Try being dear Don Quixote for a day. You'll see that love improves your vision and allows you to see more than your eye has ever seen before. But be forewarned: Those who look on the world with love will need a handkerchief, not to use as a blindfold, but to blow their nose and dry their tears. — Bernie Siegel

I believe that we are here to contribute love to the planet - each of us in our own way — Bernie Siegel

One's attitude towards oneself is the single most important factor in healing and staying well. — Bernie Siegel

When you embrace the mystery and open yourself to it, a new life is created, resistant to the old problems. You will notice at times that the new life isn't what you asked for. But asking for specific items or for particular events to occur isn't how I define prayer. I cannot guarantee that the orders you place with God will always be filled. Prayer is not a test of God, but a call for help to find your inner strength and talent. — Bernie Siegel

The tree doesn't die, nor do I when you cut off a branch or a finger, we both heal so we don't lose all the sap or blood. That to me is total shock. Also that water defies the laws of physics by becoming less dense when frozen. Life really is a miracle and all the things that are been built into us through it. — Bernie Siegel

You too are a work of art. — Bernie Siegel

Live by your experience and do not let limited beliefs alter your life experience. — Bernie Siegel

Thoughts are chemical. They can either kill us or cure us. — Bernie Siegel

Love is giving with no expectations...Love cures, heals, and rewards two people: the lover and the beloved. — Bernie Siegel

Refusal to hope is nothing more than a decision to die. — Bernie Siegel

The Secret Language of Your Body truly is the essential guide to restore your body to its healthiest state and assist you to heal your life. Inna Segal offers invaluable insights into the underlying causes of illness and disease and provides practical advice which will undoubtedly empower many to self-heal. So read on and learn from the wisdom of this book, which can guide you to the life you were truly meant to live. — Bernie Siegel

To paraphrase something the anthropologist Ashley Montagu once said, the way I change my life is to act as if I'm the person I want to be. This is, to me, the simplest, wisest advice you can give anyone. When you wake up and act like a loving person, you realize not only that you are altered, but that the people around you are also transformed, because everybody is changed by the reception of this love. — Bernie Siegel

Remember this: Now is the only time you have. When God created the universe, it was now. You can't say to creation and energy, "I'll do it later, not now." Later doesn't exist. Creation doesn't know anything but now. Whenever you get around to doing what you want to do, it will be now. The things you need to do to live a happier, more fulfilling life-the only time you can possible start doing them is now. — Bernie Siegel

Money, financial matters were to help people, to help them survive, not to have a bigger house or a bigger car and that sort of thing, because I hear that from so many kids, they often don't know why their father won't spend more time with them. — Bernie Siegel

What I try to get physically healthy people to understand is that they're going to die someday. There is no way out. And dying isn't failure, but not living is, so make use of your time. Don't keeping waiting. — Bernie Siegel

Studies of volunteers have shown there is a benefit to performing acts of love for other people. The irony is that it is actually in your best interest to be selfless. The things you do for the benefit of others not only make you feel fulfilled, they increase your chances of living a long and happy life. Remember that an act of love always benefits at least two people. — Bernie Siegel

Do not go looking for problems to feed your soul. Just let life be your teacher. It will nourish you with its inevitable difficulties. How will you know whether you are letting life teach you and nourish you? If your physical senses become more sensitive to the beauty you see, the words of love you hear, and the life you feel touching your body and soul, then you know you have discovered the great value of misfortune. — Bernie Siegel

If you talk to your body, it will listen. — Bernie Siegel

I grew up caring about people and I would say again, that's what made me who I am. I became a doctor for what I like to call "healthy reasons." Not because I'm fascinated by the human body or want to understand death, but I like people and I want to help them. That also became my problem, because I couldn't help everyone, I couldn't fix everyone. — Bernie Siegel

A surgeon is surrounded by people who are sick, discouraged, afraid, embittered, dying - but also courageous, loving, wise, compassionate and alive. — Bernie Siegel

An awareness of one's mortality can lead you to wake up and live an authentic, meaningful life. — Bernie Siegel

What a shame to be so afraid of failure that you stop living. My wife has a great one-liner about failure: "Never consider yourself a failure-you can always serve as a bad example." She is right. Failure can be a better teacher than success. — Bernie Siegel

Hoping means seeing that the outcome you want is possible and then working for it. — Bernie Siegel

So to me, what the drugs and addiction are saying is that I deserve to feel good, I'm allowed to take this because look how I was treated as a child. Our authority figures, particularly our parents are hypnotic. Their words are hypnotic literally to small children because of brain wave patterns. — Bernie Siegel

When my body gets to the point where I can no longer function or feel gratitude, then I'll leave it and become grateful again. But until then, I will appreciate what I have and not whine about what I don't have. I will feel blessed by life and the opportunity to help others see that they are blessed, too. — Bernie Siegel

Every day is my best day...I'm not going to have this moment again. — Bernie Siegel

When you accept that you are not in charge of everything, you can begin to work with the one who really is in charge. This has been my experience; when I accepted that I was not in charge and started to work with someone else's plan, the Boss showed up. Now we are a team and I have less to be concerned about. He organizes my schedule. I just follow it, and when He is taking a day off my wife steps in. — Bernie Siegel

You cannot fail at being yourself. A cat doesn't try to be a tiger, and you shouldn't try to be something you aren't. You are a process, not a product. Your job is to discover what you are and create that creature. You still won't be perfect, but success isn't about perfection-it is about authenticity. You are a success if you are being your real, authentic self. — Bernie Siegel

I was born an ugly duckling due to my mother's ill health. She wasn't supposed to be pregnant, there were all kinds of complications, she couldn't survive a cesarean section etc. She said, "They didn't hand me a child, they handed me a purple melon." I heard that when I had grown up and had no idea of the whole story because the family album had pictures of a covered carriage and my mother smiling so I assumed I was asleep. — Bernie Siegel

I always remember the words of George Halas, the owner of the Chicago Bears football team. When he was well into his eighties a friend found him in his office on Sunday, and asked him why, at his age, he was working on a Sunday. His response, 'It’s only work if there’s someplace else you’d rather be.' — Bernie Siegel

Anything that offers hope has the potential to heal. — Bernie Siegel

Life is full of painful events, and people who have lost their way and hurt others. Our pain is not lessened when we respond with hatred. In fact, the opposite occurs: When we hate people who hurt us, we come to resemble what we hate, or worse, and then we suffer all the more. What is evil is our response. We have choices, and love is the most powerful eliminator of all. — Bernie Siegel

Several of our children have married outside my faith. Would I prefer they marry within their religion? Yes, because I know that marrying outside the family faith will very likely bring them more problems-but not from me. My job is to accept them and love them, not to criticize them and make their lives more difficult. — Bernie Siegel

Do things to make your day precious. — Bernie Siegel

True inspiration overrides all fears. When you are inspired, you enter a trance state and can accomplish things that you may never have felt capable of doing. — Bernie Siegel

It is the experience of living that is important, not searching for meaning. We bring meaning by how we love the world. — Bernie Siegel

I know patients who bring a dozen roses to the doctor's office. And, boy, the next visit, nobody forgets that. You come in and hey - 'Here's the lady who brought the roses' vs. 'Here's the lung cancer.' — Bernie Siegel

We have to create perfection through love — Bernie Siegel

My view of addiction, whether it's drugs, food, alcohol or any list of other things, is the same reason I asked my mother why I wasn't a drug addict or alcoholic, which is because when you're not loved, often people become an addict and self destructive. Now the opposite of love is indifference and even worse is rejection and abuse, and I meet those people. — Bernie Siegel

By relaxation, I don't mean falling asleep in front of the TV set or unwinding with friends. The kind I'm talking about is a quieting of mental activity and withdrawal of body and mind from external stimulation. — Bernie Siegel

Bobby and I were married in 1954 and by now we know that anger does not mean "I don't love you" or "I want a divorce." It means, "I am wounded and in need of love, and I feel safe telling you about it because you are my family." Sometimes our behavior with each other is no different from the cry of an unattended baby. — Bernie Siegel

Today I am amazed at the things our children have done and their wide range of interests. They are all living their lives and not the ones I would have planned for them. But I have learned that their lives are theirs, not mine, and in living their own lives they have given me experiences and an education I would never have had if I'd been fool enough to make them do what I thought they should do. — Bernie Siegel

If you watch how nature deals with adversity, continually renewing itself, you can't help but learn. — Bernie Siegel

Miracles and angels are a part of our lives, so anticipate them and tune in through your quiet mind. — Bernie Siegel

As one woman told me, "When I decided to come in to work happy, everybody around me became happy." This woman had decided to quit a job she hated, and on the last day of her two weeks' notice, she woke up happy. At the end of the day, she noticed that everybody around her was happy, too- so she didn't quit after all. She decided to come to work happy instead. Two years later, she's still on the job, radiating happiness and love. — Bernie Siegel

If nothing has helped you decide, go ask a child. Children know what they need, and more surprisingly, the know what we need. Adults think. Kids respond with their feelings. They don't think about what you will think of their answer, so they just speak the truth-if you can get to them before junior high school age. At that time, they grow up, stop feeling loved, become depressed and start thinking-and what they are thinking about worries me. — Bernie Siegel

Life Lessons by Bernie Siegel

1. Bernie Siegel emphasizes the importance of self-empowerment and self-care in order to achieve physical and emotional health.
2. He encourages individuals to take responsibility for their own health and to be proactive in seeking out treatments and therapies that are best suited to their individual needs.
3. Bernie Siegel also emphasizes the importance of living with intention, being mindful of the present moment, and developing a positive attitude towards life.