William Osler
William Osler
Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet, FRS, FRCPwas a Canadian physician and one of the four founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of physicians, and he was the first to bring medical students out of the lecture hall for bedside clinical training. He has frequently been described as the "Father of Modern Medicine". Osler was a person of many interests, who in addition to being a physician, was a bibliophile, historian, author,...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionDoctor
Date of Birth12 July 1849
CountryCanada
There is no more difficult art to acquire than the art of observation, and for some men it is quite as difficult to record an observation in brief and plain language.
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.
If it were not for the great variability among individuals, medicine might as well be a science, not an art.
Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability.
Acquire the art of detachment, the virtue of method, and the quality of thoroughness, but above all the grace of humility.
The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head. Often the best part of your work will have nothing to do with potions and powders, but with the exercise of an influence of the strong upon the weak, of the righteous upon the wicked, of the wise upon the foolish.
The search for static security - in the law and elsewhere - is misguided. The fact is security can only be achieved through constant change, adapting old ideas that have outlived their usefulness to current facts.
To know what has to be done, then do it, comprises the whole philosophy of practical life.
One finger in the throat and one in the rectum makes a good diagnostician.
To it, more than to anything else, I owe whatever success I have had -- to this power of settling down to the day's work and trying to do it to the best of one's ability, and letting the future take care of itself.
To die daily, after the manner of St. Paul, ensures the resurrection of a new man, who makes each day the epitome of life.
When schemes are laid in advance, it is surprising how often the circumstances fit in with them
The first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.
The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well.