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

William Osler

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William Osler
Age: 70 †
Born: 1849
Born: July 12
Died: 1919
Died: December 29
Physician
Professor
Sir William Osler
Sir William
WO
Medicine
Science
Art
Probability
Uncertainty
Medical

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Shut out all of your past except that which will help you weather your tomorrows.
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Let each hour of the day have its allotted duty, and cultivate that power of concentration which grows with its exercise.
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Gentlemen, I have a confession to make. Half of what we have taught you is in error, and furthermore we cannot tell you which half it is
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The person who takes medicine must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine.
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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.
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No man is really happy or safe without a hobby.
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A man is sane morally at thirty, rich mentally at forty, wise spiritually at fifty-or never!
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Too many men slip early out of the habit of studious reading, and yet that is essential.
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To have a group of cloistered clinicians away completely from the broad current of professional life would be bad for teacher and worse for student. The primary work of a professor of medicine in a medical school is in the wards, teaching his pupils how to deal with patients and their diseases.
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The trained nurse has become one of the great blessings of humanity, taking a place beside the physician and the priest.
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The good physician treats the disease the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.
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Even in populous districts, the practice of medicine is a lonely road which winds up-hill all the way and a man may easily go astray and never reach the Delectable Mountains unless he early finds those shepherd guides of whom Bunyan tells, Knowledge, Experience, Watchful, and Sincere.
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Varicose veins are the result of an improper selection of grandparents.
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Listen to your patient, he is telling you the diagnosis.
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To confess ignorance is often wiser than to beat about the bush with a hypothetical diagnosis.
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It cannot be too often or too forcibly brought home to us that the hope of the profession is with the men who do its daily work in general practice.
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A physician who treats himself has a fool for a patient.
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Engrossed late and soon in professional cares, getting and spending, you may may so lay waste your powers that you may find, too late, with hearts given away, that t here is no place in your habit-stricken souls for those gentler influences which make your life worth living.
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A well-trained, sensible doctor is one of the most valuable assets of a community.
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One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.
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