‘Tu Souffres, Cela Suffit’: Louis Pasteur's (1822–1895) inspirational motto for Sydney's St George Hospital

• Published in: Internal medicine journal Vol. 53; no. 5; pp. 854 - 860
• Main Authors: Toodayan, Nadeem, Toodayan, Zaheer, Sablatura‐Nagi, Marika
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melbourne John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 01.05.2023; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adrien Loir (1862–1941); Australia; History of Medicine; Hospitals; Humans; Louis Pasteur (1822–1895); Medicine; St George Hospital Motto; Tu Souffres Cela Suffit; Vaccination; Australia; History of Medicine; Louis Pasteur (1822-1895); Adrien Loir (1862-1941); Vaccination; St George Hospital Motto; Tu Souffres Cela Suffit
• ISSN: 1444-0903; 1445-5994
• DOI: 10.1111/imj.16098

In the fiscal year of 1960–1961, board members of Sydney's St George Hospital elected to adopt a new motto for the organisation: ‘Tu souffres, cela suffit’ – French for ‘You are suffering, that is enough’. Today these words are all too familiar to staff members and visitors to St George Hospital, but few are aware of their actual historical significance. Accessible histories of the hospital attribute the motto to the distinguished French microbiologist Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), but the original context of Pasteur's remark is not commonly stated. We set out to record the exact source and history of the hospital's motto alongside its logo, referencing in passing, Louis Pasteur's outstanding legacy to Australian medicine in this bicentenary year of his birth.