13 Quotes & Sayings By Patch Adams

Dr. Brian M. Conn is a Yale-trained psychiatrist who was the founding medical director of the Academy of Integrative Pain Management, and created the first medical approach to treating addiction based on his own recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. Dr Read more

Conn is the author of several bestselling books including How to Break Free From Craving (Simon & Schuster) and The Pathway to Recovery (Jossey-Bass). He is on the faculty at Yale University Medical School where he teaches in the Masters of Health Management Program.

1
Remember laughing? Laughter enhances the blood flow to the body’s extremities and improves cardiovascular function. Laughter releases endorphins and other natural mood elevating and pain-killing chemicals, improves the transfer of oxygen and nutrients to internal organs. Laughter boosts the immune system and helps the body fight off disease, cancer cells as well as viral, bacterial and other infections. Being happy is the best cure of all diseases!. Patch Adams
2
When I was a girl I would look out my bedroom window at the caterpillars; I envied them so much. No matter what they were before, no matter what happened to them, they could just hide away and turn into these beautiful creatures that could fly away completely untouched. Patch Adams
3
Excellence in health means devoting your life to ending poverty. Patch Adams
4
Nature tops the list of potent tranquilizers and stress reducers. The mere sound of moving water has been shown to lower blood pressure. Patch Adams
5
Humor is an antidote to all ills. Patch Adams
6
Unlike a lot of people, I don't feel powerless. I know I can do something. But anyone can do something, it's not about being special. It's about deciding to do it - to dive into work for peace and justice and care for everybody on the planet. Patch Adams
7
The medium of response in America is fame; that's how a person that bounces a ball can make millions of dollars, and a school teacher with no fame makes $35, 000. Patch Adams
8
At the age of 18, I made up my mind to never have another bad day in my life. I dove into a endless sea of gratitude from which I've never emerged. Patch Adams
9
You've got to know what you want. This is central to acting on your intentions. When you know what you want, you realize that all there is left then is time management. You'll manage your time to achieve your goals because you clearly know what you're trying to achieve in your life. Patch Adams
10
If we don't change from a world society that worships money and power to one that worships compassion and generosity, I think we'll be extinct by mid-century. I don't say that as an alarmist or as a pessimist. Patch Adams
11
I'm a clown, which could be a public health role. I'm really interested in moving our society away from a society needing Xanax and Prozac, and that is really feeling depressed, to one that is celebrating, and so I find just walking around in colorful clothes, people smile. Patch Adams
12
I've never made a penny being a doctor, so that makes it not a job. My sense of a doctor is that one is a presence caring for health. So I'm never not a doctor. People call me from all over the world who are hurting, and I care for them. Chatting is what more people want than anything. Patch Adams