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.

" 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.