The physician-historian Fielding H. Garrison said of Osler:

When he came to die, Osler was, in a very real sense, the greatest physician of our time. He was one of nature's chosen. Good looks, distinction, blithe, benignant manners, a sunbright personality, radiant with kind feeling and good will towards his fellow men, an Apollonian poise, swiftness and surety of thoughts and speech, every gift of the gods was his: and to these were added careful training, unsurpassed clinical ability, the widest knowledge of his subject, the deepest interest in everything human, and a serene hold on his fellows that was as a seal set upon them. His enthusiasm for his calling was boundless.

And another said:

He achieved many honors and many dignities, but the proudest of all was his unwritten title, 'the Young Man's Friend.'