Doctors’ Advice

“How much better it is to have the walls covered with books with which we are establishing friendly relations, than with pictures of passing interest which we have happened to obtain. Eventually pictures may lose their interest, whereas books never lose their fascination."
— William J. Mayo, #8, in Aphorisms, Dr. Charles Horace Mayo and Dr. William James Mayo, p. 47.

“Individually the American is the most efficient man on earth; collectively and politically, extraordinarily inefficient.”
— William J. Mayo, #57, in Ibid., p. 61.

“It is easy to philosophize; the philosopher is said to be one who bears with equanimity the suffering of others.”
— William J. Mayo, #89, in Ibid., p. 70.


Half of us are blind, few of us feel, and we are all deaf.
— Sir William Osler, Aphorisms: From His Bedside Teachings and Writings, #8, p. 33.

Acquire the art of detachment, the virtue of method, and the quality of thoroughness, but above all the grace of humility.
— Sir William Osler, in Ibid., #105, p. 68.

Look wise, say nothing, and grunt. Speech was given to conceal thought.
— Sir William Osler, in Ibid., #267, p. 126.