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W. Bruce Fye Center For the History of Medicine: Aphorisms / Quotes

Aphorisms

Many of the aphorisms collected by Dr. Willius have a history, and were collected from other publications and papers of the Mayo brothers. Please feel free to contact the Fye Center with any questions you might have. The library maintains multiple copies of this book, and they are available for checkout.

William J. Mayo Quotes

  1. "Surgery is more a matter of mental grasp than it is of handicraftsmanship."
    • Master Surgeons of America; Frederic S. Dennis. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 67:535-536 (Oct), 1938.
  2. "We have never been allowed to lose sight of the fact that the main purpose to be served by the Clinic is the care of the sick."
    • The Value of the Weekly General Staff Meeting. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 10:70-72 (Jan. 30), 1935.
  3. "American practice is too broad to be national. It had the scientific spirit, and science knows no country."
    • The Influence of European Surgery on American Practice. St. Paul M. J., 16:601-605, 1914.
  4. "It is worth-while to secure the happiness of the patient as well as to prolong his life."
    • Diagnostic Fog. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 12:159-160 (Mar. 10), 1937.
  5. "Property rights have heretofore been considered sacred; human rights, of less consequence."
    • Surgery in Relation to Life Insurance. Journal-Lancet, 112:146-150, 1914.
  6. "At the close of a man's life, to estimate his worth it is wise to see him in relation to his life surroundings, to know not only the part he played as an individual, but also as a component part of the great events to which he contributed in the betterment of mankind."
    • Edward Martin, M.D., 1859-1938. Col­lect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 30:919-921, 1938.
  7. "Reading papers is not for the purpose of showing how much we know and what we are doing, but is an opportunity to learn."
    • The Value of the Weekly General Staff Meeting. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 10:70-72 (Jan. 30), 1935.
  8. "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."
    • Discussion of Paper by T. E. Keys Entitled "The Medical Books of William Worrall Mayo, Pioneer Surgeon of the American Northwest." Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 30:938-943, 1938.
  9. "Experience is the great teacher; unfortunately, experience leaves mental scars, and scar tissue contracts."
    • In the Time of Henry Jacob Bigelow. J.A.M.A., 77:591-603 (Aug. 20), 1921.
  10. "The school house is the proud monument to the desire of the people that their children shall receive a better education than they themselves had."
    • The Establishment of "The Mayo Foundation House" and Its Purpose. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 13:553-554 (Aug. 31), 1938.
  11. "I think all of us who have worked years in the profession understand that many very skillful operators are not good surgeons."
    • Master Surgeons of America; Frederic S. Dennis. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 67:535-536 (Oct), 1938.
  12. "It never occurred to us that we could be anything but doctors."
    • Discussion of Paper by T. E. Keys Entitled "The Medical Books of William Worrall Mayo, Pioneer Surgeon of the American Northwest." Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 30:938-943, 1938.
  13. "....the highly scientific development of this mechanistic age had led perhaps to some loss in appreciation of the individuality of the patient and to trusting largely to the laboratories and outside agencies which tended to make the patient not the hub of the wheel, but a spoke."
    • Edward Martin, M.D., 1859-1938. Col­lect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 30:919-921, 1938.
  14. "Instruction from teachers and books teaches a man what to think, but the great need is that he should learn how to think."
    • The Establishment of "The Mayo Foundation House" and Its Purpose. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 13:553-554 (Aug. 31), 1938.
  15. "Sometimes I wonder whether today we take sufficient care to make a thorough physical examination before our patient starts off on the round of the laboratories, which have become so necessary that oftentimes we do not fully appreciate the value of our five senses in estimating the condition of the patient."
    • Discussion of Paper by T. E. Keys Entitled "The Medical Books of William Worrall Mayo, Pioneer Surgeon of the American Northwest." Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 30:938-943, 1938.
  16. "Have we thought enough of wisdom, which moves knowledge and makes it useful?"
    • The Establishment of "The Mayo Foundation House" and Its Purpose. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 13:553-554 (Aug. 31), 1938.
  17. "It is for the younger people to meet the conditions of their generations in the way that appears to them to be wise and best."
    • The Establishment of "The Mayo Foundation House" and Its Purpose. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 13:553-554 (Aug. 31), 1938.
  18. "He never tried to utter the final word."
    • The Work of Dr. Henry S. Plummer. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 13:417-422 (July 6), 1938.
  19. "We think of truth as something that is invariable, but add a new circumstance and we have a new truth."
    • The Establishment of "The Mayo Foundation House" and Its Purpose. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 13:553-554 (Aug. 31), 1938.
  20. "To children is given the power of readily acquiring languages; later, mathematics is acquired with the same readiness; but reasoning from cause to effect is a development of adolescence and early manhood."
    • In the Time of Henry Jacob Bigelow. J.A.M.A., 77:591-603 (Aug. 20), 1921.
  21. "Education must concern itself with the aspirations and needs of the common man."
    • The Establishment of "The Mayo Foundation House" and Its Purpose. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 13:553-554 (Aug. 31), 1938.
  22. "Commercialism in medicine never leads to true satisfaction, and to maintain our self-respect is more precious than gold."
    • Discussion of Paper by T. E. Keys Entitled "The Medical Books of William Worrall Mayo, Pioneer Surgeon of the American Northwest." Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 30:938-943, 1938.
  23. "It is a man's duty to provide moderately for his family, but anything beyond this may be a detriment to his descendants."
    • The Establishment of "The Mayo Foundation House" and Its Purpose. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 13:553-554 (Aug. 31), 1938.
  24. "The wit of science not only expresses but actually reveals the science and art of medicine."
    • In the Time of Henry Jacob Bigelow. J.A.M.A., 77:591-603 (Aug. 20), 1921.
  25. "When people have entered the seventies of their age, they usually find themselves growing conservative."
    • The Establishment of "The Mayo Foundation House" and Its Purpose. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 13:553-554 (Aug. 31), 1938.
  26. "Given one well-trained physician of the highest type he will do better work for a thousand people than ten specialists."
    • In the Time of Henry Jacob Bigelow. J.A.M.A., 77:591-603 (Aug. 20), 1921.
  27. "We cannot turn back the hand of time in disease, but early operation will give a low mortality and cure a higher percentage of patients than has been cured in the group which I have considered here."
    • Splenectomy in Splenic Anemia and Banti's Disease. J.A.M.A., 77:34-36 (July 2), 1921.
  28. "[of Dr. John B. Murphy]..., his was not the nature that desired praise, but with the divine spark he desired ever to kindle new fires under old misconceptions."
    • The Surgical Significance of  Hepatic Incompetency. Surg., Gynec., & Obst., 33:463-469 (Nov.), 1921.
  29. "The foundation of modern gastric surgery was the exploratory incision."
    • Radical Operations on the Stomach With Especial Reference to Mobilization of the Lesser Curvature. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 36:447-453 (Apr.), 1923.
  30. "Unfortunately, only a small number of patients with peptic ulcer are financially able to make a pet of an ulcer."
    • Progress in the Handling of Chronic Peptic Ulcer. J.A.M.A., 79:19-2 2 (July 1), 1922.
  31. "Civilization and intellectual growth depend largely on preventive medicine."
    • Socialization of Medicine and of Law. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 11:1157-1165, 1919.
  32. "It has been said that the anatomist never made a good surgeon, that it was the pathologist who made the surgeon."
    • The Relation of Anatomy to Present­day Surgery. J.A.M.A., 74:367-369, 1920.
  33. "I have been surprised to note the readiness with which high-grade young men, graduates from medical institutions which are models for our time, yield to the temptation of machine-made diagnosis."
    • Radical Operations on the Stomach With Especial Reference to Mobilization of the Lesser Curvature. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 36:447-453 (Apr.), 1923.
  34. "Of all cooperative enterprises public health is the most important and gives the greatest returns."
    • Socialization of Medicine and of Law. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 11:1157-1165, 1919.
  35. "No person, regardless of whether or not he has money, is refused good medical attention."
    • Nursing and Hospital Costs for Individuals in Moderate Circumstances. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 21:1035-1038, 1929.
  36. "Medicine is the best of all professions, the most hopeful."
    • Remarks in Accepting Honorary Membership in the Southern Surgical Association. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 24:1051-1054, 1937.
  37. "The outstanding feature of American public life today is reverence for education."
    • Education Guides the Young to Good Citizenship. Minnesota Med., 19:468-470 (July), 1936.
  38. "People die from very real things."
    • Procedures Following Nephrectomy. J.A.M.A., 64:953-957 (May 20), 1915.
  39. "Since the object of travel is primarily self-improvement, time should not be wasted looking for things done badly and for things to criticize."
    • Observations on South  America. J.A.M.A., 75:311-315 (July 31); 377-378 (Aug. 7 ); 475-477 (Aug. 14); 540-541 (Aug. 21); 606-607 (Aug. 28); 672-673 (Sept. 4), 1920.
  40. "Individually, no man is respected more highly than the physician."
    • The Doctor and His Patient. Hygeia, 7:347-350, 1929.
  41. "Youth has visions of the future which are not shared to an equal extent by those of middle and later age; youth is a builder of images, a dreamer of dreams."
    • Education Guides the Young to Good Citizenship. Minnesota Med., 19:468-470 (July), 1936.
  42. "That which can be foreseen can be prevented."
    • Mortality and End Results in Surgery. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 32:97-102 (Feb.), 1921.
  43. "The old should remember that they represent the past, and that the young represent the future."
    • Education Guides the Young to Good Citizenship. Minnesota Med., 19:468-470 (July), 1936.
  44. "The reputation of a surgeon, in the final analysis, must rest upon (1) originality, (2) teaching by word of mouth, (3) teaching by the printed word and (4) surgical judgment, and operative skill."
    • Dr. John B. Murphy - An Appreciation. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 23:236-237, 1916.
  45. "Competitive medicine was the response of the individual physician to his training and environment."
    • The Medical Profession and the Public. J.A.M.A., 76:921-925 (Apr. 2), 1921.
  46. "Knowledge is static; wisdom is active and moves knowledge, making it effective."
    • Education Guides the Young to Good Citizenship. Minnesota Med., 19:468-470 (July), 1936.
  47. "The surgeon is often intolerant and the internist self sufficient."
    • Mortality and End Results in Surgery. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 32:97-102 (Feb.), 1921.
  48. "These heroic men whose life work marked epochs in medicine we think of as individuals, but what they accomplished singly was perhaps of less importance than the inspiration they gave to the group of men who followed them."
    • An Address on the Relation of the Basic Medical Sciences to Surgery. Canad. M.A.J., 17:652-657 (June), 1927.
  49. "After all, the best the college can do is to give the students breadth of knowledge, not necessarily depth of knowledge."
    • Education Guides the Young to Good Citizenship. Minnesota Med., 19:468-470 (July), 1936.
  50. "If there is a sixth sense, it is intuition, that instinctive summing up of memories and other evidences collected by the special senses and correlated in man's consciousness."
    • The Relative Value of the Special Senses to the Surgeon. Ann. Surg., 86:1-5 (July), 1927.
  51. "The physician has been the council for the prosecution and the defense, the jury and the judge."
    • The Medical Profession and the Public. J.A.M.A., 76:921-925 (Apr. 2), 1921.
  52. "When knowledge is translated into proper action we speak of it as wisdom."
    • Presidential Address. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 30:97-99, 1920.
  53. "As we become more civilized we are beginning to emphasize not the differences that lead to antagonism but the common impulses and desires which lead to better understanding."
    • Education Guides the Young to Good Citizenship. Minnesota Med., 19:468-470 (July), 1936.
  54. "Age carries mental scars left by experience which shorten vision, but age carries wisdom."
    • Education Guides the Young to Good Citizenship. Minnesota Med., 19:468-470 (July), 1936.
  55. "It is a great thing to make scientific discoveries of rare value, but it is even greater to be willing to share these discoveries and to encourage other workers in the same field of scientific research."
    • Remarks on the Romance of Medicine. Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 10:393-394 (June 19), 1935.
  56. "In the autumn of life one perhaps may be privileged to become reminiscent."
    • Medical Education for the General Practitioner. J.A.M.A., 88:1377-1379 (Apr. 30), 1927.
  57. "Individually the American is the most efficient man on earth; collectively and politically, extraordinarily inefficient."
    • The Medical Profession and the Public. J.A.M.A., 76:921-925 (Apr. 2), 1921.
  58. "...it is better to think and sometimes think wrong than not to think at all."
    • Remarks Before the Association. (Abstr.) Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 27:1212-1216, 1935.
  59. "As a nation we see that we must raise the average level of intelligence, if we are to have good government, because the average intelligence controls the form of government."
    • The Economic Relation of the  University System to the Development of a Social Democracy. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 25:1105-1107, 1933.
  60. "Today, it is impossible for any one man to know more than a little of comparatively few things."
    • Specialization in Surgery. Arch. Surg., 10:264-266, 1925.
  61. "Every teacher was a practitioner of medicine and every student was taught to practice medicine."
    • Medical Education for the General Practitioner. J.A.M.A., 88:1377-1379 (Apr. 30), 1927.
  62. "When one thinks of knowledge, books and other evidences of the development of the civilization of man come first to mind."
    • In Medicine Understanding Must Come Before Belief. Bull. M. Coll. Virginia, 27:3-15 (Mar.), 1930.
  63. "It has been said, and I believe justly, that one should go to the educator for information but not for advice."
    • Medical Education for the General Practitioner. J.A.M.A., 88:1377-1379 (Apr. 30), 1927.
  64. "The examining physician often hesitates to make the necessary examination because it involves soiling the finger."
    • The Cancer Problem. Journal-Lancet, 35:339-343 (July 1), 1915.
  65. "There is no excuse today for the surgeon to learn on the patient."
    • Medical Education for the General Practitioner. J.A.M.A., 88:1377-1379 (Apr. 30), 1927.
  66. "The mere possession of a diploma does not endow one with extraordinary knowledge on all possible medical subjects."
    • Specialization in Surgery. Arch. Surg., 10:264-266, 1925.
  67. "As I look back on these men who influenced me so greatly, I realize that their influence lay not in their craftsmanship, but in their high qualities of mind."
    • Masters of Surgery in the Early Years of the Annals of Surgery. Ann. Surg., 81:3-8 (Jan.), 1925.
  68. "One of the chief defects in our plan of education in this country is that we give too much attention to developing the memory and too little to developing the mind; we lay too much stress on acquiring knowledge and too little on the wise application of knowledge."
    • The Economic Relation of the  University System to the Development of a Social Democracy. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 25:1105-1107, 1933.
  69. "Interpretation of the pathology of the living is the outstanding feature of modern medicine."
    • In Medicine Understanding Must Come Before Belief. Bull. M. Coll. Virginia, 27:3-15 (Mar.), 1930.
  70. "We think of truths as ponderables capable of being measured and weighed, but introduce a new fact or a new thought and a new truth is developed."
    • The Debt of the University Graduate. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 16:1226-1230, 1924.
  71. "Our emotions and capacity for acquiring knowledge are hereditary."
    • Recent Contributions of Medical Men to Surgical Progress. J.A.M.A., 95:644-647 (Aug. 30), 1930.
  72. "The keen clinician, as he grows in experience, becomes more and more valuable as age advances."
    • Observations on the Sympathetic Nervous System. Brit. M. J., 2:627-628 (Oct. 18), 1930.
  73. "The romance of medicine lies in inductive philosophy, in which tomorrow is the great day."
    • Diverticula of the Sigmoid. Ann. Surg., 92:739-743 (Oct.), 1930. 
  74. "Democracy had its birth in the failure of autocracy."
    • The Debt of the University Graduate. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 16:1226-1230, 1924.
  75. "Democracy is safe only so long as culture is in the ascendancy, ..."
    • The Debt of the University Graduate. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 16:1226-1230, 1924.
  76. "The future of any country depends on the proper use of its most intelligent men."
    • The Function of the University Concerns the Tomorrows, the Function of the Government, the Yesterdays and Todays. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. &  Mayo  Found., 16:1223-1225, 1924.
  77. "Medical science aims at the truth and nothing but the truth."
    • The Influence of Ignorance and Neglect on the Incidence and Mortality of Cancer. J. Indiana M.A., 17:331-334, 1924.
  78. "One meets with many men who have been fine students, and have stood high on their classes, who have great knowledge of medicine but very little wisdom in application. They have mastered the science, and have failed in the understanding of the human being."
    • The Preliminary Education of the Clinical Specialist. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 23: 100l-1005, 1931.
  79. "The hospital should be a refuge to which the sick might go for relief as they went before our Savior, ..."
    • The Teaching Hospital of the University of Michigan. J. Michigan M. Soc., 25:9-12 (Jan.), 1926.
  80. "Rehabilitation is to be a master word in medicine."
    • Contributions of Pure Science to Progressive Medicine. J.A.M.A., 84:1465-1469 (May 16), 1925.
  81. "Truth is a constant variable."
    • Seventieth Birthday Anniversary. Ann. Surg., 94:799-800 (Oct.), 1931.
  82. "The church and the law deal with the yesterdays of life; medicine deals with the tomorrows."
    • The Preliminary Education of the Clinical Specialist. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 23: 100l-1005, 1931.
  83. "The ills of today must not cloud the horizon of tomorrow."
    • Seventieth Birthday Anniversary. Ann. Surg., 94:799-800 (Oct.), 1931.
  84. "I look through a half opened door into the future, full of interest, intriguing beyond my power to describe, but with a full understanding that it is for each generation to solve its own problems and that no man has the wisdom to guide or control the next generation."
    • Seventieth Birthday Anniversary. Ann. Surg., 94:799-800 (Oct.), 1931.
  85. "The university, through its organized intelligence, controls the future."
    • The Teaching Hospital of the University of Michigan. J. Michigan M. Soc., 25:9-12 (Jan.), 1926.
  86. "The sciences bring into play the imagination, the building of images in which the reality of the past is blended with the ideals for the future, and from the picture there springs the prescience of genius."
    • Contributions of Pure Science to Progressive Medicine. J.A.M.A., 84:1465-1469 (May 16), 1925.
  87. "One must confess that whatever his mental and moral deficiencies, and they are certainly great, as a machine, man has no equal."
    • The Relation of the Spleen to Certain Anemias. J. Indiana M. A., 8:499-504 (Nov.), 1915.
  88. "Perhaps the ability not only to acquire the confidence of the patient, but to deserve it, to see what the patient desires and needs, comes through the sixth sense we call intuition, which in turn comes from wide experience and deep sympathy for and devotion to the patient, giving to the possessor remarkable ability to achieve results."
    • Lewis Linn McArthur. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 60:883-885 (Apr.), 1935.
  89. "It is easy to philosophize; the philosopher is said to be one who bears with equanimity the sufferings of others."
    • Education Guides the Young to Good Citizenship. Minnesota Med., 19:468-470 (July), 1936.
  90. "Books become friends that never fail; ..."
    • Libraries Useful in Their Day. Bull. M. Library A., 25:70-72 (Sept.), 1936.
  91. "[of Dr. Lewis Linn McArthur] As a surgeon he never grew old, but was interested and interesting to the end."
    • Lewis Linn McArthur. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 60:883-885 (Apr.), 1935.
  92. "Out of this composite education we finally accept the idea that man does not live for himself alone but as an integral part of society."
    • Education Guides the Young to Good Citizenship. Minnesota Med., 19:468-470 (July), 1936.
  93. "To books we turn to learn of the past, opinions of the present, and prognostications of the future."
    • Libraries Useful in Their Day. Bull. M. Library A., 25:70-72 (Sept.), 1936.
  94. "A prominent specialist in gastro-intestinal diseases once asked, 'How is it possible that you, a general surgeon, see so many of these cases while I, who am devoting all my time to this work, see so few?' I could only answer, 'The thickness of the abdominal wall prevents you from seeing them.'"
    • Chronic Duodenal Ulcer. J.A.M.A., 64:2036-2040 (June 19), 1915.
  95. "This country rightfully has based its ideal of a safe democracy on education."
    • "Useful in Its Day." Proc. Staff Meet., Mayo Clin., 10:1-5 (Jan. 2), 1935.
  96. "It is interesting to speculate as to what diagnoses were made in the cases of duodenal ulcer prior to our present knowledge."
    • Chronic Duodenal Ulcer. J.A.M.A., 64:2036-2040 (June 19), 1915.
  97. "The independent thinker is a crank if he thinks wrongly, but a genius if he thinks rightly."
    • Perception. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:997-1006, 1928.
  98. "The spleen is an organ of contradiction and mystery: in health of relatively unimportant function, in disease a menace of grave import."
    • The Enlarged Spleen. South. M. J., 21:13-16 (Jan.), 1928.
  99. "Science is organized knowledge of the physical world."
    • Perception. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:997-1006, 1928.
  100. "Modern medicine may be said to have begun with the microscope."
    • Looking Backward and Forward in Medical Education. J. Iowa M. Soc., 19:41-46 (Feb.), 1929.
  101. "The man of science in searching for the truth must ever be guided by the cold logic of facts, and be animated by scientific imagination."
    • Perception. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:997-1006, 1928.
  102. "The educator has assumed almost full charge of medical education."
    • Looking Backward and Forward in Medical Education. J. Iowa M. Soc., 19:41-46 (Feb.), 1929.
  103. "Life is largely a matter of chemistry."
    • The Advancement of Learning in Medicine Through Biochemistry. Indust. & Engin. Chem., 20:457-460, 1928.
  104. "There is a limit to the amount of learning a man can absorb."
    • The Aims and Ideals of the American Medical Association. J. Nat. Education A., 158-163, 1928.
  105. "We must bear in mind the difference between thoroughness and efficiency. Thoroughness gathers all the facts, but efficiency distinguishes the two-cent pieces of non-essential data from the twenty-dollar gold pieces of fundamental fact."
    • Looking Backward and Forward in Medical Education. J. Iowa M. Soc., 19:41-46 (Feb.), 1929.
  106. "Memory can be spoken of as mental photography."
    • Perception. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:997-1006, 1928.
  107. "The glory of medicine is that it is constantly moving forward, that there is always more to learn."
    • The Aims and Ideals of the American Medical Association. J. Nat. Education A., 158-163, 1928.
  108. "The aim of medicine is to prevent disease and prolong life; the ideal of medicine is to eliminate the need of a physician."
    • The Aims and Ideals of the American Medical Association. J. Nat. Education A., 158-163, 1928.

Charles H. Mayo Quotes

  1. "The keynote of progress in the 20th century is system and organization, - in other words, 'team work.'"
    • The Examination, Preparation and Care of Surgical Patients. Journal­ Lancet, 36:1-4 (Jan. 1), 1916.
  2. "Carry out the two fundamental surgical requirements: see what you are doing and leave a dry field."
    • Splenomegaly. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 27:555-566, 1935.
  3. "I am writing, here, not for those filled with principles, or the why, but for those still interested in technic, or the how."
    • Wrinkles and Recipes in Intestinal Surgery. Ann. Surg., 98:830-834 (Nov.), 1933.
  4. "The definition of a specialist as one who 'knows more and more about less and less' is good and true. This truth makes essential that the specialist, to do efficient work, must have some association with others who, taken altogether, represent the whole of which the specialty is only a part."
    • Surgery's Problems as They Affect the Hospital. Mod. Hosp., 51:68-69 (Sept.), 1938.
  5. "Now that the first part of this meeting has been satisfactorily disposed of, we shall enter on the occasion which brought us together, and that is the recognition of the most important event that can occur in the life a man, that of being born."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  6. "Long ago I learned from my father to put old people to bed only for as short a time as was absolutely necessary, for they were like a foundered horse, if they got down it was difficult for them to get up, and their strength ebbed away very rapidly while in bed."
    • The Old and the New in Prostatic Surgery. Ann. Surg., 100:883-886 (Nov.), 1934.
  7. "In the study of some apparently new problems we often make progress by reading the work of the great men of the past...."
    • Surgery of the Sympathetic Nervous System. Ann. Surg., 96:481-487 (Oct.), 1932.
  8. "We live in proportion to our ability to respond to and correlate ourselves with our environment."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  9. "In some other countries, where conditions of living are entirely different from those in the United States, problems of health have been solved by socialization of medicine but to assume that we should imitate those solutions is ridiculous."
    • Surgery's Problems as They Affect the Hospital. Mod. Hosp., 51:68-69 (Sept.), 1938.
  10. "Today the only thing that is permanent is change."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  11. "Examination must be within reason for the sick, or near-sick, and its extent will be based on the judgment and experience of the physician."
    • When Does Disease Begin? Can This Be Determined by Health Examination? Minnesota Med., 10:40-42 (Jan.), 1932.
  12. "Medicine can be used only as people are educated to its accomplishments."
    • International Medical Progress. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 23:1020-1024, 1931.
  13. "Those of us who have passed our three score years are actually farther removed in light years of knowledge from our fathers than our fathers were removed from King Tut."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  14. "Disease at times creates experiments that physiology completely fails to duplicate, and the wise physiologist can obtain clues to the resolution of many problems by studying the sick."
    • La funcion del higado en relacion con la cirugia. An. de cir., 2:120-129 (Apr.), 1930.
  15. "A surgical procedure should be planned so that the patient, with the least possible risk and loss of time, will receive the greatest possible benefit."
    • Surgery of the Hepatic and Common Bile Ducts. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 22:93-102, 1930.
  16. "It must be remembered that physicians of today are trained to treat the sick, and they must learn how to examine so-called well persons to prevent them from getting sick."
    • The Influence of Pain and Mortality in Modern Medical Practice. Proc. lnterst. Postgrad. M. A. North America, Oct. 19-23:245-248, 1931.
  17. "In America our idealism is not unusual, nor does it differ much from that of the medical faculty of other countries; if we excel in anything, it is in our capacity for translating idealism into action."
    • International Medical Progress. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 23:1020-1024, 1931.
  18. "We, as parents, must give up our professed right to fix our children's thinking."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  19. "Judgment is a great asset; it makes the diagnostician and the surgeon both supermen."
    • Renal and Ureteral Stone. lnternat. J. Med. & Surg., 42:613-615 (Dec.), 1929.
  20. "Nature and evolution dislike waste, and whenever possible they use tissues for other purposes when the type of structure and the form of life change."
    • Contributing Causes of Genito-urinary Anomalies. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 48:367-371 (Mar.), 1929.
  21. "Probably the most interesting period of medicine has been that of the last few decades. So rapid has been this advance, as new knowledge developed, that the truth of each year was necessarily modified by new evidence, making the truth an ever-changing factor."
    • Philosophic Considerations of the Gallbladder. Ann. Surg., 92:640-643 (Oct.), 1930.
  22. "The writer of textbooks should have a ready imagination and he should understand the child's mind."
    • Educational Development of Man. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:937-942, 1928.
  23. "We have still left on the earth groups of people representing every age of civilization."
    • Focal Infection in Chronic and Recurring Diseases. Univ. Toronto M. J., (Apr.), 1928.
  24. "If we carry our special training too far, uneducated cults slip in."
    • The Interdependence of Medicine and Dentistry. J. Am. Dent. A., 15:2011-2017 (Nov.), 1928.
  25. "It took the world from the day of its creation to the time of the sixteenth century to raise a doubting Thomas of sufficient mental strength and courage to state that questions were answered not by authority, but by experiment."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  26. "It is unfortunate that so few appreciate from what small causes diseases come."
    • The Interdependence of Medicine and Dentistry. J. Am. Dent. A., 15:2011-2017 (Nov.), 1928.
  27. "Time has been annihilated by the telegraph, the cable, the telephone and the wireless, thus enabling the newspapers to educate the world."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  28. "Medicine is a profession for social service and it developed organization in response to social need."
    • International Medical Progress. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 23:1020-1024, 1931.
  29. "The object of all health education is to change the conduct of individual men, women, and children by teaching them to care for their bodies well, and this instruction should be given throughout the entire period of their educational life."
    • When Does Disease Begin? Can This Be Determined by Health Examination? Minnesota Med., 10:40-42 (Jan.), 1932.
  30. "Once you start studying medicine you never get through with it."
    • Focal Infection in Chronic and Recurring Diseases. Univ. Toronto M. J., (Apr.), 1928.
  31. "Of all the symptoms for which physicians are consulted, pain in one form or another is the most common and often the most urgent. Properly assessed, it stands pre-eminent among sensory phenomena of disease as a guide to diagnosis."
    • The Influence of Pain and Mortality in Modern Medical Practice. Proc. lnterst. Postgrad. M. A. North America, Oct. 19-23:245-248, 1931.
  32. "More personal hygiene and improved heredity are the keynote to the health of the coming generation."
    • The Interdependence of Medicine and Dentistry. J. Am. Dent. A., 15:2011-2017 (Nov.), 1928.
  33. "The coinage of the future will not alone be gold as in the past, but will grow into brains, equipment and material with controlled energy, and only on this basis can we make the necessary readjustment of all values."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  34. "What a privilege it is to be able to teach, and how comparatively few of the many who possess the knowledge to teach are able to impart it to the student in a manner to make a permanent rather than a fleeting impression on his mind, and at the same time arouse his interest."
    • Educational Development of Man. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:937-942, 1928.
  35. "Education of the masses has reached a high percentage; intellectual giants are in the minority."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  36. "Man has taken what he wanted, dependent on strength and cunning, but he has been bettered by religion."
    • Educational Development of Man. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:937-942, 1928.
  37. "Every part of the body is dependent on the whole and to develop a specialty more fully is to study what constitutes health and disease."
    • The Interdependence of Medicine and Dentistry. J. Am. Dent. A., 15:2011-2017 (Nov.), 1928.
  38. "The great contribution we can make is to prepare the oncoming generations to think that they can and will think for themselves."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  39. "When medical progress apparently lags it is often due to neglect to honour the great physicians of the past, thus neglecting to call public attention to medical progress through those who have made great achievements."
    • Focal Infection in Chronic and Recurring Diseases. Univ. Toronto M. J., (Apr.), 1928.
  40. "There must be adjustment of education to the individual."
    • Tomorrow's Education Seen by Dr. Mayo. Northwestern University Alumni News, 10:17-19 (July), 1931.
  41. "The significance of an ailment should not be measured by the inconvenience it causes at the time, but by what may come of it four or five years afterward."
    • The Influence of Pain and Mortality in Modern Medical Practice. Proc. lnterst. Postgrad. M. A. North America, Oct. 19-23:245-248, 1931.
  42. "Medicine is about as big or as little in any community, large or small, as the physicians make it."
    • Focal Infection in Chronic and Recurring Diseases. Univ. Toronto M. J., (Apr.), 1928.
  43. "The physicians, in order to stimulate interest, have advocated a birthday examination to see what the audit in the bank of health actually is."
    • Insurance as a Factor in Health Betterment. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:951-956, 1928.
  44. "Probably in the not far distant future we will crawl out of our old methods of education, as a snake sheds its skin, and reorganize a new plan."
    • Educational Development of Man. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:937-942, 1928.
  45. "When you want support for public health measures you have to educate the people. When you start to educate the people you should begin with the women because they will fight for the health of their children."
    • Preventive Medicine. Texas State J. Med., 24:403-405 (Oct.), 1928.
  46. "If I were asked how the next considerable advance is to be sought and won in the field of medicine, I should say by the intimate study of the physiology and anatomy as related to symptoms, and that our first concern should be a more extended and intimate study of pain."
    • The Influence of Pain and Mortality in Modern Medical Practice. Proc. lnterst. Postgrad. M. A. North America, Oct. 19-23:245-248, 1931.
  47. "All who are benefited by community life, especially the physician, owe something to the community."
    • The Value of Broadmindedness. M. Life, 34:165-167 (Apr.), 1927.
  48. "[Study within these buildings only] plants the roots of knowledge; it does not make brains, but merely molds them and equips them for more and greater work."
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  49. "Small organs have often engaged the attention of great men, ..."
    • Hepatic Function in Health and Disease. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 42:9-14, 1926.
  50. "Readjustment of labor will make it possible for man to develop the only thing as yet but little developed for its capacity, his highest attribute, the brain."
    • Insurance as a Factor in Health Betterment. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 20:951-956, 1928.
  51. "While there are several chronic diseases more destructive to life than cancer none is more feared."
    • Carcinoma of the Right Segment of the Colon. Ann. Surg., 83:357-363 (Mar.), 1926.
  52. "The problem before us is so to exchange information, and so to educate men through travel that there shall develop a final, cosmopolitan system of medicine which will combine the best elements to be found in all countries."
    • Preventive Medicine. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 28:1190-1192, 1936.
  53. "In many years of active surgical work I have not seen death occur as the result of an unnecessary exploration."
    • The Cause and Relief of Acute Intestinal Obstruction. J.A.M.A., 79:194-197 (July 15), 1922.
  54. "It would seem that the study of medicine does not always contribute to broadmindedness, as men who choose medicine as a profession are apt to lose rather than gain breadth of perception. It could be said rather that medicine develops individualism."
    • The Value of Broadmindedness. M. Life, 34:165-167 (Apr.), 1927.
  55. "Civilized man does not add to the beauties of nature, but generally destroys, perverts, and disarranges the progress of natural changes."
    • Avian Tuberculosis in Man. South. M. J., 19:29-34, 1926.
  56. "Medicine gives only to those who give, but her reward for those who serve is 'finer than much fine gold.'"
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  57. "Thus the surgeons for each period must discuss the subject and clarify it for themselves, since human experience, which affords opportunity for progress, can be passed on only to a limited extent."
    • The Appendix in Relation to, or as the Cause of, Other Abdominal Diseases. J.A.M.A., 83:592-593 (Aug. 23), 1924.
  58. "Men left the colleges with their intellectual packs on their backs to live by their own hands."
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  59. "To have better community health the people must be convinced that certain diseases are infectious. After this conviction has become established, a community can be free from disease in proportion to what it can pay for prevention."
    • Preventive Medicine. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 28:1190-1192, 1936.
  60. "We have gone on from the principle of universal opportunity to that of universal compulsion."
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  61. "The lack of money in the medical profession makes it desirable to build memorials for utility."
    • Jerome Cochran Lecture: The Thyroid and Its Diseases. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 14:42 7- 433, 1922.
  62. "The scientist is not content to stop at the obvious."
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  63. "Let there be education in medicine commensurate to instruction; let the young physician be sound in the fundamentals, so that he may see his problem as it is, and his duty to himself, his patients and the science of medicine."
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  64. "Knowledge is acquired by a compelling force from within, by desire, or from without, by compulsion."
    • The Trained Nurse. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 13:1242-1244, 1921.
  65. "One of the signs of a truly educated people, and a broadly educated nation, is lack of prejudice."
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  66. "The trained nurse has given nursing the human, or shall we say, the divine touch, and made the hospital desirable for patients with serious ailments regardless of their home advantages."
    • The Trained Nurse. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 13:1242-1244, 1921.
  67. "There are two objects of medical education: To heal the sick, and to advance the science."
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  68. "The true physician will never be satisfied just to pass his therapeutic wares over a counter."
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  69. "Anatomy and physiology will again grow in importance as living topics directly concerned in disease."
    • Problems in Medical Education. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 18:1093-1102, 1926.
  70. "We are more than ever firmly convinced that war is what Sherman called it, and made of it, Hell."
    • War's Influence on Medicine. Presidential Address. J.A.M.A., 68: 1673-1677 (June 9), 1917.
  71. "In truth, we advance far by the harmonious assembling of facts made known by many observers and writers."
    • The Cancer Problem. Canad. M. A. J., 8:786-790, 1918.
  72. "Our country is no longer isolated from other countries."
    • Educational Possibilities of the National Medical Museum; in the Standardization of Medical Training. J.A.M.A., 73:411-413 (Aug. 9), 1919.
  73. "The medical profession should feel proud of the position it has attained in the affairs of the world."
    • War's Influence on Medicine. Presidential Address. J.A.M.A., 68: 1673-1677 (June 9), 1917.
  74. "Good health is an essential to happiness, and happiness is an essential to good citizenship."
    • The Relation of Mouth Conditions to General Health. J. Am. Dent. A., 6:505-512 (June), 1919.
  75. "The soldier is rewarded or promoted for risk of life and personal valor; an officer who is given authority to command the destruction of life may have spent but a few months in a training camp, while the medical officer who is responsible for the preservation of life devotes many years to preparation."
    • Educational Possibilities of the National Medical Museum; in the Standardization of Medical Training. J.A.M.A., 73:411-413 (Aug. 9), 1919.
  76. "Democracy is not achieved in a day."
    • War's Influence on Medicine. Presidential Address. J.A.M.A., 68: 1673-1677 (June 9), 1917.
  77. "In the study of digestion as a necessary function in the maintenance of life, one comes very close to the fundamental question of life itself."
    • The Treatment of Peptic Ulcer by Gastro-enterostomy. Minnesota Med., 2:1-4, 1919.
  78. "There are lots of people who think they are sick and who are not sick."
    • The Relation of Mouth Conditions to General Health. J. Am. Dent. A., 6:505-512 (June), 1919.
  79. "A crowned tooth is not a 'crown of glory' and may cover a multitude of germs."
    • Problems of Infection. Minnesota Med., 1:414-416, 1918.
  80. "Obedience to law means life and liberty."
    • War's Influence on Medicine. Presidential Address. J.A.M.A., 68: 1673-1677 (June 9), 1917.
  81. "It is a poor government that does not realize that the prolonged life, health and happiness of its people are its greatest asset."
    • Educational Possibilities of the National Medical Museum; in the Standardization of Medical Training. J.A.M.A., 73:411-413 (Aug. 9), 1919.
  82. "More good would come to our country through tongue control than birth control."
    • War's Influence on Medicine. Presidential Address. J.A.M.A., 68: 1673-1677 (June 9), 1917.
  83. "The laws of civilization signify progress and efficiency along scientific lines."
    • Educational Possibilities of the National Medical Museum; in the Standardization of Medical Training. J.A.M.A., 73:411-413 (Aug. 9), 1919.
  84. "The by-products of human deficiencies, mental, moral and physical, are a clog and a burden to the state."
    • War's Influence on Medicine. Presidential Address. J.A.M.A., 68: 1673-1677 (June 9), 1917.
  85. "Experience with success or failure only enables the individual operator to justify methods."
    • The Thyroid and Its Diseases. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 32:209-213 (Mar.), 1921.
  86. "It will soon be generally recognized that the citizen is best made when a child."
    • War's Influence on Medicine. Presidential Address. J.A.M.A., 68: 1673-1677 (June 9), 1917.
  87. "Life does not occur without life."
    • The Relation of Mouth Conditions to General Health. J. Am. Dent. A., 6:505-512 (June), 1919.
  88. "From a medical standpoint we must be proud of our country and our great dead."
    • War's Influence on Medicine. Presidential Address. J.A.M.A., 68: 1673-1677 (June 9), 1917.
  89. "Public demand is the only true stimulus for tradesmen and professional men alike."
    • Educational Possibilities of the National Medical Museum; in the Standardization of Medical Training. J.A.M.A., 73:411-413 (Aug. 9), 1919.
  90. "In medical progress the means of relief by therapeutic measures or surgery have far outstripped our knowledge of the cause of disease."
    • Stone in the Kidney. Ann. Surg., 7:123-127, 1920.
  91. "The government has dabbled in medical affairs at enormous expense for what has been accomplished."
    • Educational Possibilities of the National Medical Museum; in the Standardization of Medical Training. J.A.M.A., 73:411-413 (Aug. 9), 1919.
  92. "The philosophic view of bacteria is to consider them necessary to life as the minute chemists of the air, the water, and the soil."
    • Stone in the Kidney. Ann. Surg., 7:123-127, 1920.
  93. "Science and education have done much but education still lags."
    • The Relation of Mouth Conditions to General Health. J. Am. Dent. A., 6:505-512 (June), 1919.
  94. "As a profession we are probably less acute in our general observation than was the practitioner of the old school."
    • The Examination, Preparation and Care of Surgical Patients. Journal ­Lancet, 36:1-4 (Jan. 1), 1916.
  95. "Health has come to be generally recognized as an economic principle."
    • The Value of Public Health Service. Pub. Health, 4:533-535, 1916.
  96. "We make many laws but obey few; and having an abhorrence of discipline, we discuss freedom."
    • Medical Service in the United States Army. St. Paul M. J., 19:351-353, 1917.
  97. "The sooner patients can be removed from the depressing influence of general hospital life the more rapid their convalescence."
    • The Examination, Preparation and Care of Surgical Patients. Journal ­Lancet, 36:1-4 (Jan. 1), 1916.
  98. "Nothing endures unless it is of use in the world and in the economy of nature."
    • Medical Service in the United States Army. St. Paul M. J., 19:351-353, 1917.
  99. "The prevention of disease today is one of the most important factors in the line of human endeavor."
    • Constitutional Diseases Secondary to Local Infections. Dental Rev., 27: 281-297, 1913; Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 17-34, 1913.
  100. "In the conquering of serious diseases by surgical measures it is important that the operation itself should be as free from mortality as possible."
    • A Consideration of the Mortality in One Thousand Operations for Goiter. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 8:237-240 (Mar.), 1909.
  101. "The choice of an anesthetic is more often determined by the idiosyncrasy of the operator than the necessity of the case."
    • Goiter. With Preliminary Report of Three Hundred Operations on the Thyroid. J.A.M.A., 48:273-277 (Jan. 26), 1907.
  102. "The small expense of restoring an individual to health and usefulness is returned manifold."
    • Discussion Original Paper, "The University Hospital," by Dr. C. L. Greene. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 556-557, 1911.
  103. "The people will gradually demand more of their medical advisers."
    • Constitutional Diseases Secondary to Local Infections. Dental Rev., 27: 281-297, 1913; Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 17-34, 1913.
  104. "Much of the fog which surrounded the early-day knowledge of this subject was due to a nomenclature which labeled the syndrome of symptoms with the names of various men who more or less perfectly described the condition."
    • Ligation of the Thyroid Vessels in Certain Cases of Hyperthyroidism. Ann. Surg., 50:1018-1024 (Dec.), 1909.
  105. "The fact that these fads exist may be fortunate since it leads the advocates to redouble their efforts in a desire to prove the efficiency of the method."
    • The Present Status of the Treatment of Fractures. Railway Surg. J., 18:400-410, 1911-1912; Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 484-495, 1911.
  106. "It has been the constant effort of the medical profession to cure or control disease by a study of its causes."
    • Observations on the Thyroid Gland and Its Diseases. Surg., Gynec. & Obst., 14:363-368 (Apr.), 1912; Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 439-450, 1911.
  107. "While medicine is a science, in many particulars it cannot be exact, so baffling are the varying results of varying conditions of human life."
    • President's Address. Collect. Papers Mayo Clin. & Mayo Found., 601-604, 1905-1909.