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Abraham Verghese Quotes

I’m a great believer in geography being destiny Picture Quote #1

In an emergency, what treatment is given by ear? Words of Comfort Picture Quote #1

I write by stealing time. The hours in the day have never felt as if they belonged to me. The greatest number has belonged to my day job as a physician and professor of medicine - eight to 12 hours, and even more in the early days Picture Quote #1

I’ve never bought this idea of taking a therapeutic distance. If I see a student or house staff cry, I take great faith in that. That’s a great person; they’re going to be a great doctor Picture Quote #1

Ignorance was just as dynamic as knowledge, and it grew in the same proportion Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

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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.’ Picture Quote #1

There is that lovely feeling of one reader telling another, ‘You must read this.’ I’ve always wanted to write a book like that, with the sense that you are contributing to the discourse in middle America, a discourse that begins at a book club in a living room, but then spreads. That is meaningful to me Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

There is a point when grief exceeds the human capacity to emote, and as a result one is strangely composed- Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

You are an instrument of God. Don’t leave the instrument sitting in its case, my son. Play! Leave no part of your instrument unexplored. Why settle for ‘Three Blind Mice’ when you can can play the ‘Gloria’? No, not Bach’s ‘Gloria.’ Yours! Your ‘Gloria’ lives within you. The greatest sin is not finding it, ignoring what God made possible in you Picture Quote #1

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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 Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

Rituals, anthropologists will tell us, are about transformation. The rituals we use for marriage, baptism or inaugurating a president are as elaborate as they are because we associate the ritual with a major life passage, the crossing of a critical threshold, or in other words, with transformation Picture Quote #1

I’ve never bought this idea of taking a therapeutic distance. If I see a student or house staff cry, I take great faith in that. That’s a great person; they’re going to be a great doctor Picture Quote #1

My deceased patients have taught me over the years to believe in the glass half full, to make good use of the time we have, to be generous - that was their lesson for the Uber-mind, and it was free. ‘Do that,’ they said, ‘and then perhaps death shall have no dominion.’ Picture Quote #1

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You can’t show up at the bedside and then turn on your skills. You have to keep your game sharp all the time Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

I still find the best way to understand a hospitalized patient whose care I am taking over 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 Picture Quote #1

We’re now able to show that the words of comfort trigger biological reactions which are the very things that you want, and you can use drugs to get there, or you can use words of comfort to get there, which would make your drugs so much more effective Picture Quote #1

My writing flows out of my doctorhood. They are not separate things. They are one. I think the foremost connection between being a doctor and being a writer is the great privilege of having an intimate view of one’s fellow humans, the privilege of being there and helping other people at their most vulnerable moments Picture Quote #1

B.C. sat back in his chairWhatever America needs, the world will supply. Cocaine? Colombia steps to the plate. Shortage of farmworkers, corn detasselers? Thank God for Mexico. Baseball players? Viva Dominicana. Need more interns? India, Philippines zindabad Picture Quote #1

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My desire to be a physician had a lot to do with that sense of medicine as a ministry of healing, not just a science. And not even just a science and an art, but also a calling, also a ministry Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

I’m a proud American - becoming a citizen in 1988 was one of the most profoundly moving occasions in my life; I’m a former Texan and a recent Californian Picture Quote #1

My advice for writers is to get a good day job. It takes the pressure off writing if you have a job that pays the bills Picture Quote #1

Literature is a beautiful way of keeping the imagination alive, of visiting worlds you would never have time to in your day-to-day life. It keeps you abreast of a wider spectrum of human activities Picture Quote #1

The bottom line: health care reform is about the patient, not about the physician Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

I’m a great believer in geography being destiny (Abraham Verghese Quotes) In an emergency, what treatment is given by ear? Words of Comfort (Abraham Verghese Quotes) I write by stealing time. The hours in the day have never felt as if they belonged to me. The greatest number has belonged to my day job as a physician and professor of medicine - eight to 12 hours, and even more in the early days. (Abraham Verghese Quotes) I’ve never bought this idea of taking a therapeutic distance. If I see a student or house staff cry, I take great faith in that. That’s a great person; they’re going to be a great doctor (Abraham Verghese Quotes) Ignorance was just as dynamic as knowledge, and it grew in the same proportion (Abraham Verghese 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 (Abraham Verghese 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.’ (Abraham Verghese Quotes) There is that lovely feeling of one reader telling another, ‘You must read this.’ I’ve always wanted to write a book like that, with the sense that you are contributing to the discourse in middle America, a discourse that begins at a book club in a living room, but then spreads. That is meaningful to me (Abraham Verghese 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 (Abraham Verghese Quotes) There is a point when grief exceeds the human capacity to emote, and as a result one is strangely composed- (Abraham Verghese 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 (Abraham Verghese Quotes) You are an instrument of God. Don’t leave the instrument sitting in its case, my son. Play! Leave no part of your instrument unexplored. Why settle for ‘Three Blind Mice’ when you can can play the ‘Gloria’? No, not Bach’s ‘Gloria.’ Yours! Your ‘Gloria’ lives within you. The greatest sin is not finding it, ignoring what God made possible in you (Abraham Verghese Quotes) 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 (Abraham Verghese 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 (Abraham Verghese 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 (Abraham Verghese Quotes) Rituals, anthropologists will tell us, are about transformation. The rituals we use for marriage, baptism or inaugurating a president are as elaborate as they are because we associate the ritual with a major life passage, the crossing of a critical threshold, or in other words, with transformation (Abraham Verghese Quotes) I’ve never bought this idea of taking a therapeutic distance. If I see a student or house staff cry, I take great faith in that. That’s a great person; they’re going to be a great doctor. (Abraham Verghese Quotes) My deceased patients have taught me over the years to believe in the glass half full, to make good use of the time we have, to be generous - that was their lesson for the Uber-mind, and it was free. ‘Do that,’ they said, ‘and then perhaps death shall have no dominion.’ (Abraham Verghese Quotes) You can’t show up at the bedside and then turn on your skills. You have to keep your game sharp all the time. (Abraham Verghese 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. (Abraham Verghese Quotes) I still find the best way to understand a hospitalized patient whose care I am taking over 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. (Abraham Verghese Quotes) We’re now able to show that the words of comfort trigger biological reactions which are the very things that you want, and you can use drugs to get there, or you can use words of comfort to get there, which would make your drugs so much more effective. (Abraham Verghese Quotes) My writing flows out of my doctorhood. They are not separate things. They are one. I think the foremost connection between being a doctor and being a writer is the great privilege of having an intimate view of one’s fellow humans, the privilege of being there and helping other people at their most vulnerable moments. (Abraham Verghese Quotes) B.C. sat back in his chairWhatever America needs, the world will supply. Cocaine? Colombia steps to the plate. Shortage of farmworkers, corn detasselers? Thank God for Mexico. Baseball players? Viva Dominicana. Need more interns? India, Philippines zindabad (Abraham Verghese Quotes) My desire to be a physician had a lot to do with that sense of medicine as a ministry of healing, not just a science. And not even just a science and an art, but also a calling, also a ministry. (Abraham Verghese 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. (Abraham Verghese Quotes) I’m a proud American - becoming a citizen in 1988 was one of the most profoundly moving occasions in my life; I’m a former Texan and a recent Californian. (Abraham Verghese Quotes) My advice for writers is to get a good day job. It takes the pressure off writing if you have a job that pays the bills. (Abraham Verghese Quotes) Literature is a beautiful way of keeping the imagination alive, of visiting worlds you would never have time to in your day-to-day life. It keeps you abreast of a wider spectrum of human activities (Abraham Verghese Quotes) The bottom line: health care reform is about the patient, not about the physician (Abraham Verghese Quotes)

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