Sir Willliam Osler, "The Great Physician," was also a man of letters. One of my favorite books is The Life of Sir William Osler (2 Vols.) by Harvey Cushing. Some Osler quotes:There are incurable diseases in medicine, incorrigible vices in the ministry and insoluable cases in law.
Who serves the gods dies young, -- Venus, Bacchus, and Vulcan send no bills in the seventh decade.
Common-sense nerver fibers are seldom medullated before forty -- they are never seen even with the microscope before twenty.
Although one swallow does not make a summer, one tophus makes gout and one crescent malaria.
Believe nothing that you see in the papers -- they have done more to create dissatisfaction than all other agencies. If you see anything in them that you know is true, begin to doubt it at once.
You're only as old as your arteries.
"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and
blow, "is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails.
You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie
awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss
your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil
lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser
minds. There is only one thing for it then -- to learn. Learn why the
world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can
never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or
distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only thing for
you. Look what a lot of things there are to learn."
"Pooh, promise you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred." Pooh thought a little. "How old shall I be then?" "Ninety-nine." Pooh nodded. "I promise," he said. Still with his eyes on the world Christopher Robin put out a hand and felt for Pooh's paw.
Alan Alexander Milne, "Winnie the Pooh"
For age is opportunity no less
Than youth itself, though in another dress,
And as the evening twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day...
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs,
And as silently steal away.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Day is Done"
Joy and woe are woven fine,
a clothing for the soul divine;
under every grief and pine
runs a joy with silken twine.
William Blake, "Auguries of Innocence"
A Tribute to Friendship
I salute you. You are my friend and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not got. But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take.
No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today.
Take Heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden
in this present little instance.
Take Peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow.
Behind it . yet within our reach . is joy.
Take Joy! Life is so full of meaning and purpose
. so full of beauty . . . that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all. And so I greet you with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.Fra Giovanni -- 1513
Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort,
of feeling safe with a person, having neither
to weight thoughts nor measure words, but to
pour them all out just as they are, chaff and
grain together, knowing that a faithful hand
will take and sift them, keep what is worth
keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness,
blow the rest away.
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)
There are red-letter days in our lives when we
meet people who thrill us like a fine poem,
people whose handshake is brimful of unspoken
sympathy and whose sweet, rich natures impart
to our eager, impatient spirits a wonderful
restfulness . . . . Perhaps we never saw them
before and they may never cross our life's path
again; but the influence of their calm, mellow
natures is a libation poured upon our discontent,
and we feel its healing touch as the ocean feels
the mountain stream freshening its brine. . . .
~~ Helen Keller ~~
Life is to be fulfilled by many friendships.
To love, and to be loved, is the greatest happiness.
If I lived under the burning sun of the equator, it
would be pleasure for me to think that there were
many human beings on the other side of the world
who regarded and respected me; I could not live if
I were alone upon the earth, and cut off from the
rememberance of my fellow-creatures. It is not that
a person has occasion often to fall back upon the
kindness of friends; perhaps we may never
experience the necessity of doing so; but we are
governed by our imaginations, and they stand
there as a solid and impregnable bulwark against
all the evils of life.
Sidney Smith
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His thoughts were slow, His words were few, and never formed to glisten. But he was a joy to all his friends -- You should have heard him listen.
Quoted by Wayne Mackey |
On Speech In other powers which we possess we are in no respect superior to other living creatures; nay, we are inferior in swiftness and in strength and in other resources but, because there has been implanted in us the power to persuade each other and to make clear to each other whatever we desire, not only have we escaped the life of wild beasts, but we have come together and founded cities, and made laws and invented arts; and generally speaking, there is no institution devised by man which the power of speech has not helped to establish. For it is that which has laid down laws concerning things just and unjust, and things base and honorable; and if it were not for those ordinances we should not be able to live with one another. It is by this also that we confute the bad and extol the good. Through this we educate the ignorant and appraise the wise; for the power to speak well is taken as the surest index of a sound understanding and discourse which is true and lawful and just is the outward image of a good and faithful soul. With this faculty we both contend against others on matters which are open to dispute and seek light for ourselves on things which are unknown; for the same arguments we use in persuading others when we speak in public, we employ also when we deliberate in our own thoughts; and, while we call eloquent those who are able to speak before a crowd, we regard as sage those who most skillfuly debate their problems in their own minds. And if there is need to speak in brief summary of this power, we shall find that none of the things which are done with intelligence take place without the help of speech, but that in all our activities as well as in all our thoughts speech is our guide, and is most employed by those who have the most wisdom.
Isocrates (436 - 388 BC), "Nicocles or the Cyprians,"
Section 3.5 - 3.9
