"My father, for whose skills as a surgeon I have the deepest respect, says, "The operation with the best outcome is the one you decide not to do." Knowing when not to operate, knowing when I am in over..."
- Abraham Verghese
"...a world where a sparrow's fate and that of a man can be decided in the blink of a cat's eye, such is the true measure of time."
"The crookedness of the serpent is still straight enough to slide through the snake hole."
"Superorganism. A biologist coined that word for our great African ant colonies, claiming that consciousness and intelligence resided not in the individual ant but in the collective ant mind. The trail..."
"No blade can puncture the human heart like the well-chosen words of a spiteful son."
"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."
"Do they li"
"To be around someone whose self-confidence is more than what our first glance led us to expect is seductive."
"it was all I had, all I've ever had, the only currency, the only proof that I was alive. Memory." p 380"
"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 'Gl..."