William Osler (1849–1919) was a renowned Canadian physician and author. He is frequently described as the “Father of Modern Medicine” for his impact on not only medical education but also the practice of medicine. He is the author of the first modern textbook of medicine. His Principles and Practice of Medicine, first published in 1892, went through seventeen editions and became the model for all subsequent medical textbooks.
During his time, Osler was regarded as the most celebrated physician in the history of the world. Harvey Cushing, his student, and first biographer wrote of Osler, “Everyone fortunate enough to have been brought in contact with him shared from the beginning in the universal feeling of devotion.”
Born in a remote part of Ontario known as Bond Head, Osler spent a year at Trinity College in Ontario before deciding on a career in medicine. He attended the Toronto Medical College for two years and in 1872 received his doctor of medicine degree from McGill University in Montreal. He pursued postgraduate studies in London, Berlin, and Vienna. Upon returning to Canada in 1874, he joined the medical faculty at McGill.
From 1888, as one of the four founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital, Osler revolutionized the medical curriculum of the United States and Canada, synthesizing the best of the English and German systems. He created the first residency program for specialty training of physicians. He also pioneered the practice of bringing third- and fourth-year medical students into the wards for bedside rounds where he and other physicians demonstrated the art of physical examination.
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Advice is sought to confirm a position already taken.
—William Osler
Topics: Advice
Let each hour of the day have its allotted duty, and cultivate that power of concentration which grows with its exercise … .
—William Osler
Nothing will sustain you more potently than the power to recognize in your humdrum routine, as perhaps it may be thought, the true poetry of life.
—William Osler
No human being is constituted to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and even the best of men must be content with fragments, with partial glimpses, never the full fruition.
—William Osler
Topics: Truth
We are here not to get all we can out of life for ourselves, but to try to make the lives of others happier.
—William Osler
Topics: Happiness
It is much simpler to buy books than to read them and easier to read them than to absorb their contents. Too many men slip early out of the habit of studious reading, and yet that is essential…
—William Osler
To have striven, to have made the effort, to have been true to certain ideals — this alone is worth the struggle.
—William Osler
No bubble is so iridescent or floats longer than that blown by the successful teacher.
—William Osler
Topics: Teaching
In seeking absolute truth we aim at the unattainable, and must be content with finding broken portions.
—William Osler
Topics: Truth
Best possible way to prepare for tomorrow
is to concentrate all your intelligence,
on doing’s today’s work superbly today.
—William Osler
A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.
—William Osler
The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today’s work superbly well.
—William Osler
Topics: Work, Planning, Preparation, Future, Work Ethics, Excellence
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