Home > Author > Abraham Verghese
61 " Life is like that. You live it forward but understand it backward. "
― Abraham Verghese , Cutting for Stone
62 " A rich man's faults are covered with money, but a surgeon's faults are covered with earth. "
63 " The key to your happiness is to...own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don't. [Otherwise] you'll die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny. "
― Abraham Verghese
64 " 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. "
65 " Life for the Italians was what it was, no more and no less, an interlude between meals "
66 " ...guilt leads to righteous action, but rarely is it the right action. "
67 " He was teaching me how to die, just as he'd taught me how to live. "
68 " 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. "
69 " Now I saw this categorizing of my freezer food as a sign of the true chaos in my head. "
70 " Out of his pen he was spinning gold. "
71 " 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. "
72 " Ignorance was just as dynamic as knowledge, and it grew in the same proportion. "
73 " Call me old-fashioned," Deepak said, "but I've always believed that hard work pays off. My version of the Beatitudes. Do the right thing, put up with unfairness, selfishness, stay true to yourself... one day it all works out. Of course, I don't know that people who wronged you suffer or get their just deserts. I don't think it works that way. But I do think that one day you get your reward. "
74 " The key to your happines is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don't. If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then you'll die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. "
75 " 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. "
76 " 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. "
77 " What we are fighting isn't godlessness--this is the most godly country on earth. We aren't even fighting disease. Its poverty. Money for food, medicines... that helps. When we cannot cure or save a life, our patients can at least feel cared for. It should be a basic human right. "
78 " I was angry with myself because I still loved her, or at least I loved that dream of our togetherness. My feelings were unreasonable, irrational, and I couldn't change them. That hurt. "
79 " Do they listen?"He held up a finger. "Every year one does," he said, ginning, "But that one makes it worthwhile. Even Jesus only did twelve. I try to get one a year. "
80 " How we treat the least of our brethren,... that's the measure of this country. "