Abraham Verghese Quotes, Uncles Quotes, School Quotes

Certainly when I got to medical school, I had role models of the kind of physicians I wanted to be. I had an uncle who, looking back, was probably not the most-educated physician around but he carried it off so well.

5 years ago

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Uncles Quotes , School Quotes

We have the sense that medical students come to medicine with a great capacity to understand the suffering of patients. And then by the end of the third year they completely lose that ability, partly because we teach them the specialized language of medicine.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Years Quotes , Medicine Quotes

Tell us please, what treatment in an emergency is administered by ear?"....I met his gaze and I did not blink. "Words of comfort," I said to my father.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Father Quotes , Comfort Quotes

Geography is destiny.

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Another day in paradise' was his inevitable pronouncement when he settled his head on his pillow. Now I understand what that meant: the uneventful day was a precious gift.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Paradise Quotes , Another Day Quotes

When I wake to the gift of yet another sunrise my first thought is to rouse him and say, I owe you the sight of morning.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Morning Quotes , Sight Quotes

Being the first born gives you great patience.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Giving Quotes , Firsts Quotes

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

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Book Quotes , Men Quotes

When you win, you often lose, that's just a fact. There's no currency to straighten a warped spirit, or open a closed heart, a selfish heart.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Selfish Quotes , Heart Quotes

No matter what ailed you, you went to see the barber surgeon who wound up cupping you, bleeding you, purging you. And, oh yes, if you wanted, he would give you a haircut and pull your tooth while he was at it.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Giving Quotes , Teeth Quotes

In writing, as in medicine, there are no short cuts. You need stamina.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Writing Quotes , Cutting Quotes

We're losing a ritual. We're losing a ritual that I believe is transformative, transcendent, and is at the heart of the patient-physician relationship.

5 years ago

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Motivation Quotes , Believe Quotes

I was taking care of people my age who were dying. The constant feeling, hearing from them, was that life is transient and can end very quickly, so don't postpone your dreams.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Dream Quotes , People Quotes

When I use the word 'healing', by that I mean that every disease has a physical element that we're very good at handling, but there's always a sense of the violation. 'Why me?' 'Why is my leg broken on the ski trip and not anyone else's?' And I think that medicine has done a terrible job of addressing that spiritual violation.

5 years ago

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Spiritual Quotes , Jobs 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.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Lucky Quotes , Purpose Quotes

He had so many ways of climbing into the tree house in his head, escaping the madness below, and pulling the ladder up behind him.

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Patients know in a heartbeat if they're getting a clumsy exam.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Patient Quotes , Exam Quotes

My VIP patients often regret so many things on their deathbeds. They regret the bitterness they'll leave in people's hearts. They realize the no money, no church service, no eulogy, no funeral procession no matter how elaborate, can remove the legacy of a mean spirit.

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Regret Quotes , Heart Quotes

In America, we have always taken it as an article of faith that we 'battle' cancer; we attack it with knives, we poison it with chemotherapy or we blast it with radiation. If we are fortunate, we 'beat' the cancer. If not, we are posthumously praised for having 'succumbed after a long battle.'

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Cancer Quotes , Taken Quotes

This is my life, I thought...I have excised the cancer from my past, cut it out; I have crossed the high plains, descended into the desert, traversed oceans, and planted my feet in new soil; I have been the apprentice, paid my dues, and have just become master of my ship. But when I look down, why do I see the ancient, tarred, mud-stained slippers that I buried at the start of the journey still stuck to my feet?

5 years ago

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Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Cancer Quotes , Ocean Quotes