Observe, record, tabulate, communicate. Use your five senses. Learn to see, learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you can become expert.
William OslerRead
In seeking absolute truth we aim at the unattainable and must be content with broken portions.
Interpretation
The pursuit of absolute truth may be impossible, leading us to focus on partial truths instead.
This quote expresses the idea that in our quest for complete understanding and absolute truth, we may encounter the reality that such a goal is beyond our reach. Instead of striving for a perfect and unattainable truth, we should accept and find value in the fragments of understanding we are able to grasp, recognizing that our knowledge will always be incomplete.
In practice
In a discussion about philosophical concepts, this quote can illustrate our limitations in understanding reality.
Observe, record, tabulate, communicate. Use your five senses. Learn to see, learn to hear, learn to feel, learn to smell, and know that by practice alone you can become expert.
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.
One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.
No bubble is so iridescent or floats longer than that blown by the successful teacher.
The young physician starts life with 20 drugs for each disease, and the old physician ends life with one drug for 20 diseases.
Let each hour of the day have its allotted duty, and cultivate that power of concentration which grows with its exercise.
Indulgence in frivolous speech not only reveals one's lack of moral character, but it deprives him of good qualities also.
I had given up some youth for knowledge, but my gain was more valuable than the loss.
Real devotion is an unbroken receptivity to the truth. Real devotion is rooted in an awed and reverent gratitude, but one that is lucid, grounded, and intelligent.
This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.
In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.
And all knowledge, when separated from justice and virtue, is seen to be cunning and not wisdom; wherefore make this your first and last and constant and all-absorbing aim, to exceed, if possible, not only us but all your ancestors in virtue; and know that to excel you in virtue only brings us shame, but that to be excelled by you is a source of happiness to us.
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