Joseph Lister Quotes
If we had nothing but pecuniary rewards and worldly honours to look to, our profession would not be one to be desired. But in its practice you will find it to be attended with peculiar privileges, second to none in intense interest and pure pleasures. It is our proud office to tend the fleshly tabernacle of the immortal spirit, and our path, rightly followed, will be guided by unfettered truth and love unfeigned. In the pursuit of this noble and holy calling I wish you all God-speed.
Lister, Joseph. "Graduation Address, August 1, 1876." The Collected Papers of Joseph, Baron Lister, vol. 2, Clarendon Press, 1909, p. 556.
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister OM, PC, PRS, FRCSE, FFPS, was a British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery. From a technical viewpoint, Lord Lister was not an exceptional surgeon, but his research into bacteriology and infection in wounds raised his operative technique to a new plane where his observations, deductions and practices revolutionised surgery throughout the world.