The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.

" His best-known saying was "Listen to your patient he is telling you the diagnosis" which emphasises the importance of taking a good history. The Fixed Period speech is included in the book of his collected addresses "Aequanimitas with other Addresses to Medical Students etc. Osler was a strong supporter of libraries and served on the library committees at most of the universities at which he taught and was a member of the Board of Curators of the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

He has been called the "Father of modern medicine. Kelly Professor of Gynecology; and William H. " Osler was a multifaceted physician and individual functioning as a pathologist internist educator bibliophile historian author and renowned practical joker.