In business his quote on really idle men and perpetually busy men is often mentioned. The anti-vivisectionist movement often quotes him as referring to medical science as sinister. Books on positive thinking quote him as saying a happy man never gets cancer.
Some of his quotations, though, appear to be the foot in mouth type. For instance his quote on British Surgery might irk anyone who is not from Britain. And his quote on hernia surgery suggests that most surgeons are incompetent.
Here are some of Ogilvie's famous quotations;
``The really idle man gets nowhere. The perpetually busy man does not get much farther.''
``Specialism is inevitable, and having accepted it we must examine its limitations....disease is no specialist. Patients do not consult us because certain organs are affected, but because they feel ill.''
``The science of experimental medicine is something new and sinister,''
``British surgery has always stood high because it can be claimed, and not without reason, that every surgical advance of major importance has come from this country.'' (BMJ 1954)
``a happy man never gets cancer'' (1950's)
``The instances when the first recognisable onset of cancer has followed almost immediately on some disaster, a bereavement, the breakup of a relationship, a financial crisis, or an accident, are so numerous that they suggest that some controlling force that has hitherto kept this outbreak of cell communism in check has been removed.'' (No Miracles Among Friends)
``I know more than 100 surgeons whom I would cheerfully allow to remove my gall bladder but only one to whom I would like to expose my inguinal canal.''
``A misleading symptom is misleading only to one able to be misled.''