Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

William Osler Physician

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: Canada
  • Born: Jul 12, 1849
  • Died: Dec 29, 1919

Sir William Osler, 1st Baronet was 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, and renowned practical joker.

The philosophies of one age have become the absurdities of the next, and the foolishness of yesterday has become the wisdom of tomorrow.

The future is today.

We are here to add what we can to life, not to get what we can from life.

To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals - this alone is worth the struggle.

No bubble is so iridescent or floats longer than that blown by the successful teacher.

The value of experience is not in seeing much, but in seeing wisely.

In seeking absolute truth we aim at the unattainable and must be content with broken portions.

Soap and water and common sense are the best disinfectants.

The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become interested in it.

The good physician treats the disease the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.

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