William Osler quotes - page 3

One of the first essentials in securing a good-natured equanimity is not to expect too much of the people amongst whom you dwell. (William Osler)
In a true and perfect form, imperturbability is indissolubly associated with wide experience and an intimate knowledge of the varied aspects of disease. View quote
William Osler
Keen sensibility is doubtless a virtue of high order, when it does not interfere with steadiness of hand or coolness of nerve; but for the practitioner in his working-day world, a callousness which thinks only of the good to be effected, and goes ahead regardless of smaller considerations, is the preferable quality. View quote
William Osler
There is no discredit, though there is at times much discomfort, in this everlasting perhaps with which we have to preface so much connected with the practice of our art. It is, as I said, inherent in the subject. View quote
William Osler
We may indeed be justly proud of our apostolic succession. View quote
William Osler
Though his philosophy finds nothing to support it, at least from the standpoint of Terence the scientific student should be ready to acknowledge the value of a belief in a hereafter as an asset in human life. In the presence of so many mysteries which have been unveiled, in the presence of so many yet unsolved, he cannot be dogmatic and deny the possibility of a future state. View quote
William Osler
Creeds pass, an inexhaustible supply of faith remains, with which man proceeds to rebuild temples, churches, chapels and shrines. View quote
William Osler
The search of science for the spirits has been neither long nor earnest; nor is it a matter of surprise that it has not been undertaken earlier by men whose training had fitted them for the work. View quote
William Osler
Faith is indeed one of the miracles of human nature which science is as ready to accept as it is to study its marvellous effects. View quote
William Osler
Whether across death's threshold we step from life to life, or whether we go whence we shall not return, even to the land of darkness, as darkness itself, he cannot tell. View quote
William Osler
The critical sense and sceptical attitude of the Hippocratic school laid the foundations of modern medicine on broad lines. (William Osler)
All the more honour to those who have with honest effort striven to pierce the veil and explore the mysteries which lie behind it. View quote
William Osler
A man must have faith in himself to be of any use in the world. View quote
William Osler
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 germ of a pilgrimage. View quote
William Osler
Though a little one, the master-word looms large in meaning. It is the open sesame to every portal, the great equalizer in the world, the true philosopher's stone, which transmutes all the base metal of humanity into gold. View quote
William Osler
Nationalism has been the great curse of humanity. In no other shape has the Demon of Ignorance assumed more hideous proportions; to no other obsession do we yield ourselves more readily. View quote
William Osler
The future is today. View quote
William Osler
The teacher's life should have three periods, study until twenty-five, investigation until forty, profession until sixty, at which age I would have him retired on a double allowance. View quote
William Osler
That man can interrogate as well as observe nature was a lesson slowly learned in his evolution. View quote
William Osler
Medicine is learned by the bedside and not in the classroom. Let not your conceptions of disease come from words heard in the lecture room or read from the book. See, and then reason and compare and control. But see first. View quote
William Osler
Care more for the individual patient than for the special features of the disease. . . . Put yourself in his place . . . The kindly word, the cheerful greeting, the sympathetic look -- these the patient understands. (William Osler)
Things cannot always go your way. Learn to accept in silence the minor aggravations, cultivate the gift of taciturnity and consume your own smoke with an extra draught of hard work, so that those about you may not be annoyed with the dust and soot of your complaint. View quote
William Osler
To confess ignorance is often wiser than to beat about the bush with a hypothetical diagnosis. View quote
William Osler
Half of us are blind, few of us feel, and we are all deaf. View quote
William Osler
There are only two sorts of doctors those who practice with their brains, and those who practice with their tongues. View quote
William Osler