Abraham Verghese

"... How we treat the least of out brethren, how we treat the peasant suffering with volvulus, that's the measure of this country. Not our fighter planes or tanks, or how big the Emperor's palace happens to be ..."

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 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?

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.

Sometimes we have to “live the question,” not push for the answer.

"A rich man's faults are covered with money, but a surgeon's faults are covered with earth."

Worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life, and faith is the oil.

You can’t set out to achieve your goals without a little madness.

When she walked away I felt the weight of what she left unsaid. I wanted to call after her, Ma! You have it all wrong. But just as she kept her thoughts to herself, I was learning to do the same. This was what growing up was about: hide the corpse, don't bare your heart, do make assumptions about the motives of others. They're certainly doing all these things to you.

You can’t walk across a lake just because you change its name to “land.” Labels matter.

In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

The world turns on our every action, and our every omission, whether we know it or not.

All my ghosts had vanished; the retribution that they sought had been exacted. I had nothing more to give and nothing to fear.