Skip to content

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.

— William Osler The Master-Word In Medicine (1903)

Another quote →

More quotes by William Osler

Common sense in matters medical is rare, and is usually in inverse ratio to the degree of education.

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

Sir William Osler : Aphorisms (1950)

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.

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)

The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from animals.

The Life of Sir William Osler (1925)

All William Osler quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: William Osler (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.