Ancient Greek Quotes: "Ars longa, vita brevis" T-Shirt

The Ancient Greek aphorism "Ars longa, vita brevis" (Greek: Ὁ βίος βραχύς, ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή, transliterated: o vios vrachis i de techne makri), is the first two lines of the "Aphorismi" by the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. The familiar Latin translation Ars longa, vita brevis reverses the order of the original lines. The most common and significant caveat made regarding the saying is that "art" (Latin: ars, translating Ancient Greek: τέχνη (techne)) originally meant "technique, craft", not "fine art". Hippocrates was a physician who made this the opening statement in a medical text. The lines which follow: "The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and externals cooperate." Thus in plainer language "it takes a long time to acquire and perfect one's expertise (in, say, medicine) and one has but a short time in which to do it". It can be interpreted as "art lasts forever, but artists die and are forgotten". The late-mediaeval author Chaucer (c. 1343–1400) observed "The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne" ("The life so short, the craft so long to learn", the first line of the Parlement of Foules) [source: wikipedia]