Idiom
physician, heal thyself
Meaning
One should attend to one's own flaws or defects before presuming to advise others about theirs.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“You should fix your own problems, physician, heal thyself.”
“He keeps telling me how to manage my stress, but he is always exhausted; I told him, physician, heal thyself.”
“Before the senator criticizes the moral failings of his colleagues, he would do well to remember the old proverb: physician, heal thyself.”
Examples
simple
“You should fix your own problems, physician, heal thyself.”
contextual
“He keeps telling me how to manage my stress, but he is always exhausted; I told him, physician, heal thyself.”
complex
“Before the senator criticizes the moral failings of his colleagues, he would do well to remember the old proverb: physician, heal thyself.”
Origin
Calque of Ancient Greek ἰατρέ, θεράπευσον σεαυτόν (iatré, therápeuson seautón) and Latin medice, cūrā tē ipsum, from Luke 4:23.
Key words
- Updated