William Osler: Trending quotes

William Osler trending quotes. Read the latest quotes in collection

William Osler: 100 quotes13 likes

“A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.”

Source: Sir William Osler : Aphorisms (1961), Ch. 1.

“Take the sum of human achievement in action, in science, in art, in literature—subtract the work of the men above forty, and while we should miss great treasures, even priceless treasures, we would practically be where we are today … The effective, moving, vitalizing work of the world is done between the ages of twenty-five and forty.”

Vol. I, Ch. 24 : "The Fixed Period'".
The Life of Sir William Osler (1925)

“The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest, and not inferior to either in her mission.”

Address at Johns Hopkins Hospital (1897); later published in Aequanimitas, and Other Addresses (1905).

“Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability.”

As quoted in Computers in biomedical research (1965) by Ralph W. Stacy, p. 320.

“One special advantage of the skeptical attitude of mind is that a man is never vexed to find that after all he has been in the wrong.”

The Treatment of Disease Can Lancet 1909;42:899-912.

“There seems to be no limit to the possibilities of scientific medicine, and while philanthropists are turning to it as to the hope of humanity, philosophers see, as in some far-off vision, a science from which may come in the prophetic words of the Son of Sirach, "Peace over all the earth."”

Chauvinism in Medicine (1902)

“Shakespeare gets to the root of the alcohol question in his well-known statement—'Good wine is a good, familiar creature if it be well used.”

Alcohol in St. Elizabeth Parish Magazine (1905). As quoted in Counsels and ideals from the writings of William Osler (1921, 2nd edition) http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hc1qm3;view=1up;seq=295

“In the history of medicine, there are few instances in which a disease has been more accurately, more graphically or more briefly described.”

In reference to "On Chorea" (1872) by George Huntington on what is now known as Huntington's Disease, as quoted in "Huntington's Chorea" by Irwin A. Brody and Robert H. Wilkins in Archives of Neurology Vol. 17, No. 3 (1967). The acclaim Huntington received for this paper, his first, from Osler and others, he would later refer to as an "unsought, unlooked for honor."

“Soap and water and common sense are the best disinfectants.”

Source: Sir William Osler : Aphorisms (1961), p. 134.

“While in general use for centuries, one good result of the recent development of mental healing has been to call attention to its great value as a measure to be carefully and scientifically applied in suitable cases. My experience has been that of the unconscious rather than the deliberate faith healer. Phenomenal, even what could be called miraculous, cures are not very uncommon. Like others, I have had cases any one of which, under suitable conditions, could have been worthy of a shrine or made the gem of a pilgrimage.”

The Faith that Heals (1910)