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  • Abraham Verghese Quotes   84
  • 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Believe Quotes , Doctors 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



    Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Spiritual Quotes , Jobs Quotes
  • Pray tell us, what's your favorite number?"... "Shiva jumped up to the board, uninvited, and wrote 10,213,223"... "And pray, why would this number interest us?" "It is the only number that describes itself when you read it, 'One zero, two ones, three twos, two threes'.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Zero Quotes , Two Quotes
  • I think we learn from medicine everywhere that it is, at its heart, a human endeavor, requiring good science but also a limitless curiosity and interest in your fellow human being, and that the physician-patient relationship is key; all else follows from it.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Heart Quotes , Thinking 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Opportunity Quotes , Airports Quotes
  • A beautiful literary collection that tells of today's country doctor, somewhat removed from our romantic black-bag image of days gone by, but still fulfilling an essential need in caring for spread-out populations. At times, with today's advances in technology, medicine in rural America looks very like it does in America's cities, but the variety of practices is enormous. The Country Doctor Revisited captures the trials and tribulations of medicine, but also the satisfaction and the extraordinary rewards that come to those who embrace such a practice.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Beautiful Quotes , Country 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.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Years Quotes , Medicine Quotes
  • I think we can see how blessed we are in America to have access to the kind of health care we do if we are insured, and even if uninsured, how there is a safety net. Now, as to the problem of how much health care costs and how we reform health care ... it is another story altogether.
  • 5 years ago



    Tags : Abraham Verghese Quotes , Blessed Quotes , Thinking Quotes