Nursing School Quotes to Help You Survive Until Graduation

Going to nursing school can be quite challenging—as you will see in some of these nursing school quotes.

Being a nurse is a noble and feel-good profession.

However, nursing school can be quite a daunting task.

Tell us your favorite nursing school quote in the comment section below.

What are the benefits of reading these nursing school quotes?

Just how many years of school does it take to become a nurse?

Well, the answer is a little complicated.

It depends on the requirements of where you live and which type of nursing degree you are trying to get.

Nursing school itself is difficult for many reasons.

Earning a Bachelor’s in nursing takes candidates, on average, over four years.

Nursing programs are more demanding in terms of credits.

This means many students have to fast-track their degrees by taking multiple hard classes at once.

Finals and midterms are no joke, either!

These nursing school quotes will inspire you to stay the course, despite the work involved.

You will:

• be tired
• spend some money out of pocket
• maybe even become a little cynical

However, you will become an integral part of our healthcare system.

More than that, you will make a difference in the lives of every patient you help treat.

Keep reading through these nursing school quotes if you need a little inspiration to study. 

If you enjoy this article, check out our collection of nurse quotes honoring heroes of healthcare.

The perfect words for graduation speeches from nursing school quotes

1. “Nurses are the heart of healthcare.” — Donna Wilk Cardillo

You will also enjoy our article on Blazing Saddles quotes.

2. “It would not be possible to praise nurses too highly.” — Stephen Ambrose

3. “A nurse will always give us hope, an angel with a stethoscope.” — Carrie Latet

4. “Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation.” — Aristotle

5. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” — Nelson Mandela

6. “When you’re a nurse, you know that every day you will touch a life or a life will touch yours.” — Unknown

7. “Life doesn’t begin at graduation. It began when you made the decision to start nursing school.” — Unknown

8. “Our job as nurses is to cushion the sorrow and celebrate the job, every day, while we are ‘just doing our jobs.’” — Christine Belle

9. “Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.” — Tony Robbins

10. “To do what nobody else will do, in a way that nobody else can do, in spite of all we go through…that is what it is to be a nurse.” — Rawsi Williams, RN

Funny nursing quotes to make you laugh while in nursing school

11. “Don’t mess with me—I get paid to poke people with sharp objects.” — Unknown

12. “I have restraints and Ativan, and I’m not afraid to use them.” — Deborah Barnes, RN

13. “You know you’re a nurse when your finger has gone places you never thought possible.” — Unknown

14. “How many nurses does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None! They delegate it to the nursing student.” — Unknown 

15. “‘It’s the new nurses who aren’t scared that worry me,’—every nursing instructor ever (and they’re right!).” — Unknown

16. “3 AM: the time when you remember you forgot to chart that thing, bring that lady her water, or pass that med.” — Unknown

17. “Nursing friendships are a different kind of love; like, ‘I’ll hold the butt cheeks while you clean the butt crack’ kind of love!” — Unknown

18. “The 3 words most people want to hear: ‘I love you.’ The 3 words nurses want to hear: ‘Alert, Oriented, and Ambulatory.” — Unknown

19. “Don’t let anyone treat you like an expired 24 butterfly gauge. You are a #16 in the left forearm with excellent venous return!” — Unknown

20. “Being a nurse is weird: I can keep a poker face through trauma, but have a mental breakdown over losing my favorite pen.” — Unknown

The kind of people who finish nursing school quotes

21. “Nursing is not for the empty of heart…nor the faint of heart.” — Unknown

22. “Nurses dispense comfort, compassion, and caring without even a prescription.” — Val Saintsbury

23. “Being a nurse means to hold all your own tears and start drawing smiles on people’s faces.” — Dana Basem

24. “I love being a nurse, but I mostly love wearing scrubs. They’re basically professional pajamas.” — Unknown

25. “Every nurse was drawn to nursing because of a desire to care, to serve, or to help.” — Christina Feist-Heilmeier, RN

26. “Nurses are a unique kind. They have this insatiable need to care for others, which is both their biggest strength and fatal flaw.” — Dr. Jean Watson

27. “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them.” — Clara Barton

28. “Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation as any painter’s or sculptor’s work.” — Florence Nightingale 

29. “As a nurse, we have the opportunity to heal the mind, soul, heart, and body of our patients, their families, and ourselves. They may forget your name, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

30. “The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life of the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, a means of locomotion for the newborn, knowledge and confidence for the young mother, a voice for those too weak to speak, and so on.” — Virginia Henderson, RN

Nursing school quotes about how challenging it is 

31. “Nursing school will be a challenge… Get ready!” — Unknown

32. “Life is tough, my darling, but so are you.” — Stephanie Bennett-Henry

33. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” — Maya Angelou

34. “Graduating from nursing school is like finding that pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.” — Unknown

35. “Just be prepared for a long and often uncertain journey. The good stuff doesn’t come easy.” — Tim Westergren

36. “In nursing school, it doesn’t matter if you make the grade when you understand the concepts!” — Unknown

37. “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” — Joshua J. Marine

38. “There are no great people in this world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to meet.” — William Frederick Halsey Jr.

39. “No more ‘I can’t.’ No more ‘It’s too hard.’ No more ‘I’m too tired.’ No more ‘Waiting for it to get easier.’ You can become a nurse.” — Unknown

40. “It doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.” — Fred Lebow

How to make it through nursing school quotes

41. “You learn something every day if you pay attention.” — Ray LeBlond

42. “Whether you think you can or think you can’t you’re right.” — Henry Ford

43. “Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” — Benjamin Spock

44. “When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

45. “You don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.” — Les Brown

46. “I’ve got a theory that if you give 100 percent all the time, somehow things will work out in the end.” — Larry Bird

47. “Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else.” — Les Brown

48. “Nursing School. One syllabus at a time. One class at a time. One exam at a time. One clinical at a time. Keep going…” — Unknown

49. “Forgive yourself, you are not perfect. Show yourself grace; you are still learning. Show yourself patience; you are on a journey.” — Unknown

50. “Study while others are sleeping, work while others are loafing, prepare while others are playing, and dream while others are wishing.” — William Arthur Ward

What does studying to be a nurse entail?

Nursing students will focus on various sciences, including chemistry, psychology, anatomy, and physiology.

They will also have to develop their critical thinking skills.  

A large part of any nursing program includes examining the crossover between theoretical and practical learning.

This can make for an exciting time in school but can also be stressful. 

Besides understanding the science behind the body and the human mind, nurses must also learn certain skills.

These include how to position and transport patients, administer medication and assist with the patient’s daily activities.

A nursing student’s course load is also filled with ethics, pharmacology, and leadership classes.

There truly is a lot to learn, and that is part of the reason nursing school is so demanding.

The job of a nurse is also physically and emotionally draining.

A nurse will spend long hours on their feet and have to help lift people.

They will see the aftermath of terrible things and experience the loss of a patient.

What did you learn from these nursing school quotes and sayings?

Have you gone to nursing school?

Share your experience with us in the comment section below.