List of William Osler Quotes

No Dreams, No Visions, No Delicious Fantasies, No Castles In The Air, With Which, As The Old Song So Truly Says, Hearts Are Broken, Heads Are Turned.

A Library Represents The Mind Of Its Collector, Fancies And Foibles, Strengths And Weaknesses, Prejudices And Preferences.

The Librarian Of Today, And It Will Be True Still More Of The Librarians Of Tomorrow, Are Not Fiery Dragons Interposed Between The People And The Books. They Are Useful Public Servants, Who Manage Libraries In The Interest Of The Public . . . Many Still Think That A Great Reader, Or A Writer Of Books, Will Make An Excellent Librarian. This Is Pure Fallacy.

Save The Fleeting Minute; Learn Gracefully To Dodge The Bore.

At The Outset Do Not Be Worried About This Big Question-truth. It Is A Very Simple Matter If Each One Of You Starts With The Desire To Get As Much As Possible. 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. In This Unsatisfied Quest The Attitude Of Mind, The Desire, The Thirst-a Thirst That From The Soul Must Arise!-the Fervent Longing, Are The Be-all And The End-all.

There Is No More Potent Antidote To The Corroding Influence Of Mammon Than The Presence In The Community Of A Body Of Men Devoted To Science, Living For Investigation And Caring Nothing For The Lust Of The Eyes And The Pride Of Life.

Take The Sum Of Human Achievement In Action, In Science, In Art, In Literature Subtract The Work Of The Men Above Forty, And While We Should Miss Great Treasures, Even Priceless Treasures, We Would Practically Be Where We Are Today ... The Effective, Moving, Vitalizing Work Of The World Is Done Between The Ages Of Twenty-five And Forty.

The Scots Are The Backbone Of Canada. They Are All Right In Their Three Vital Parts - Head, Heart And Haggis.

In The Mortality Bills, Pneumonia Is An Easy Second, To Tuberculosis; Indeed In Many Cities The Death-rate Is Now Higher And It Has Become, To Use The Phrase Of Bunyan 'the Captain Of The Men Of Death.'

It Is Strange How The Memory Of A Man May Float To Posterity On What He Would Have Himself Regarded As The Most Trifling Of His Works.

The Great Minds, The Great Works Transcend All Limitations Of Time, Of Language, And Of Race, And The Scholar Can Never Feel Initiated Into The Company Of The Elect Until He Can Approach All Of Life's Problems From The Cosmopolitan Standpoint.

A Library Represents The Mind Of Its Collector, His Fancies And Foibles, His Strength And Weakness, His Prejudices And Preferences. Particularly Is This The Case If, To The Character Of A Collector, He Adds - Or Tries To Add - The Qualities Of A Student Who Wishes To Know The Books And The Lives Of The Men Who Wrote Them. The Friendships Of His Life, The Phases Of His Growth, The Vagaries Of His Mind, All Are Represented.