Abraham Verghese Quotes, Believe Quotes, Past Quotes

I believe in black holes. I believe that as the universe empties into nothingness, past and future will smack together in the last swirl around the drain.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Believe Quotes , Past Quotes

Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny.

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I always wondered if the good people who send us bibles really think that hookworm and hunger are healed by scripture? Our patients are illiterate.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Thinking Quotes , People Quotes

Students undergo a conversion in the third year of medical school - not pre-clinical to clinical, but pre-cynical to cynical.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , School Quotes , Years Quotes

That's the funny thing about America--the blessed thing. As many people as there are to hold you back, there are angels whose humanity makes up for all the others. I've had my share of angels.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Thank You Quotes , Blessed Quotes

The most important innovation in medicine to come in the next 10 years: the power of the human hand.

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How we treat the least of our brethren,... that's the measure of this country.

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To be around someone whose self-confidence is more than what our first glance led us to expect is seductive.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Self Confidence Quotes , Seductive Quotes

I still find the best way to understand a hospitalized patient is not by staring at the computer screen but by going to see the patient; it's only at the bedside that I can figure out what is important.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Important Quotes , Way Quotes

For one who has an interest in the body as text, airports are treasure troves of information. It seems almost un-American to enjoy delays, and perhaps enjoy is not the best word, but certainly a delayed flight, if it does nothing else, allows one the opportunity to make prolonged observations about one's fellow travelers.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Opportunity Quotes , Airports Quotes

God will judge us, Mr. Harris, by--by what we did to relieve the suffering of our fellow human beings. I don't think God cares what doctrine we embrace.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Thinking Quotes , Judging Quotes

According to Shiva, life is in the end about fixing holes. Shiva didn't speak in metaphors. fixing holes is precisely what he did. Still, it's an apt metaphor for our profession. But there's another kind of hole, and that is the wound that divides family. Sometimes this wound occurs at the moment of birth, sometimes it happens later. We are all fixing what is broken. It is the task of a lifetime. We'll leave much unfinished for the next generation.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Broken Quotes , Tasks Quotes

There are moments as a teacher when I'm conscious that I'm trotting out the same exact phrase my professor used with me years ago. It's an eerie feeling, as if my old mentor is not just in the room, but in my shoes, using me as his mouthpiece.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Teacher Quotes , Years Quotes

We come unbidden into this life, and if we are lucky we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and early death which, lest we forget, is the common lot. I grew up and I found my purpose and it was to become a physician. My intent wasn't to save the world as much as to heal myself. Few doctors will admit this, certainly not young ones, but subconsciously, in entering the profession, we must believe that ministering to others will heal our woundedness. And it can. but it can also deepen the wound.

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The crookedness of the serpent is still straight enough to slide through the snake hole.

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Be careful! Travel expands the mind and loosens the bowels.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Mind Quotes , Bowels Quotes

What did it say when a man had fewer clothes than books?

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...guilt leads to righteous action, but rarely is it the right action.

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We know the average American physician interrupts their patient in 14 seconds.

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What we need in medical schools is not to teach empathy, as much as to preserve it. The process of learning huge volumes of information about disease, of learning a specialised language, can ironically make one lose sight of the patient one came to serve; empathy can be replaced by cynicism.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , School Quotes , Sight Quotes