Wednesday, February 18, 2009

A word to the wise from one of the big boys

“Start out with the conviction that absolute truth is hard to reach in matters relating to our fellow creatures, healthy or diseased, that slips in observation are inevitable even with the best trained faculties, that errors in judgement must occur in the practice of an art which consists largely in the balancing of probabilities; - start, I say, with this attitude in mind, and mistakes will be acknowledged and regretted; but instead of a slow process of self-deception, with ever increasing inability to recognize truth, you will draw from your errors the very lessons which may enable you to avoid their repetition.”
- Sir William Osler, from “Teacher and Student, Aequanimitas”.

1 comments: