Ars longa, vita brevis

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)

Ars longa, vita brevis are the first two lines of a Latin translation of an aphorism by Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. The words are commonly translated in English as art is long, life is short. The full text in Latin is:

Ars longa,

vita brevis,

occasio praeceps,

experimentum periculosum,

iudicium difficile.

In this commonly found Latin translation, the first two statements have been switched from the Greek original.

The full text is often rendered in English as:

[The] art is long,

life is short,

opportunity fleeting,

experiment dangerous,

judgment difficult.

The most common and significant caveat in this translation is that "art" (Latin: ars, Ancient Greek: τέχνη (techne)) is interpreted as "technique, craft" (as in The Art of War), not "fine art", Hippocrates being a doctor and this being the start of a medical text. The following line "The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and externals cooperate," makes the medical context clear.

The Latin is more clearly recognizable, but less idiomatic, using English terms descended from the Latin:

Art [is] long,

vitality [is] brief,

occasion precipitous,

experiment perilous,

judgment difficult.

Greek form

Its original form in Hippocrates' work Aphorisms (sect. I, no. 1) is:

Ὁ βίος βραχύς,

ἡ δὲ τέχνη μακρή,

ὁ δὲ καιρὸς ὀξύς,

ἡ δὲ πεῖρα σφαλερή,

ἡ δὲ κρίσις χαλεπή.

In transliteration:

Ho bios brakhys,

hê de tekhnê makrê,

ho de kairos oxys,

hê de peira sphalerê,

hê de krisis khalepê.

The Greek text, accordingly, is generally rendered in English as:

Life is short,

[the] art long,

opportunity fleeting,

experiment fallible,

judgment difficult.

Related sayings

Consider also Chaucer's “Life is so short, and the craft takes so long to learn” (from Parlement of Foules). Also, consider the ancient Jewish Rabbi Tarfon (c. 100 CE), who was known to say, "The day is short, the labor vast, the workers lazy, the reward great, the Master urgent." (Avot 2:20)