Skip to main content
The BMJ logoLink to The BMJ
. 2005 Oct 22;331(7522):939.

Sanitas sanitatum

Jeremy Hugh Baron 1
PMCID: PMC1261190

There is a great mistake in the Vulgate.. .the Latin translation of the Holy Scriptures, and that instead of saying “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” - Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas, the wise and witty king really said, Sanitas sanitatum, omnia sanitas. Gentlemen, it is impossible to overrate the importance of the subject. After all, the first consideration of a Minister should be the health of the people.

Benjamin Disraeli, 1872. Cited by Sir Humphry Rolleston. The progress and pioneers of preventive medicine. Ann Med Hist 1934;6: 95.


Articles from BMJ : British Medical Journal are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES