Ars longa, vita brevis
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Ars longa, vita brevis is part of an aphorism by Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, usually truncated to its first two statements, art is long, life is short. (See also List of Latin phrases.)
The full text in Latin is: "Ars longa, vita brevis, occasio praeceps, experimentum periculosum, iudicium difficile."
The full text is often rendered in English as "Life is short, [the] art long, opportunity fleeting, experiment treacherous, judgment difficult." Also: "Life is short, art [of medicine] is long; the crisis fleeting; experience perilous, and decisions difficult. The physician must not only be prepared to do what is right himself, but also to make the patient, the attendants, and externals cooperate." (from Aphorism, section I, no. 1)
The first two phrases are often quoted by themselves, and thus misconstrued to mean that art is longer-lasting than individual lives.[citation needed] It seems more likely that Hippocrates meant that learning one's craft is a process that only ends with one's death; this urgency becomes apparent in the full aphorism.
The 1960s English progressive rock band The Nice recorded an album, their second, titled Ars Longa Vita Brevis.
