Passions and Tempers Quotes

“The renowned physician, chemist, priest, and astrologer Arnau de Villanova—born in Milan around 1240, and eventually a resident of Barcelona—even admitted so much: if you don’t understand the case, he said, just mention obstruction, because “they do not understand what it means, and it helps greatly that a term is not understood by the people.”13 If the doctor seemed knowledgeable, he would be worthy of trust, and his services worth paying for. The mere appearance of authoritativeness could, and indeed still can, reassure the patient.”
― Noga Arikha, Passions and Tempers: A History of the Humours