Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try.

Our reluctance to honestly examine the experience of aging and dying has increased the harm we inflict on people and denied them the basic comforts they most need.

No matter what measures are taken, doctors will sometimes falter, and it isn't reasonable to ask that we achieve perfection. What is reasonable is to ask that we never cease to aim for it.

You may not control life's circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them.

You can't make a recipe for something as complicated as surgery. Instead, you can make a recipe for how to have a team that's prepared for the unexpected.

Arriving at an acceptance of one's mortality is a process, not an epiphany.

Courage is strength in the face of knowledge of what is to be feared or hoped. Wisdom is prudent strength.

Coaching done well may be the most effective intervention designed for human performance.

Life is choices, and they are relentless. No sooner have you made one choice than another is upon you.

This is the reality of intensive care: at any point, we are as apt to harm as we are to heal.

I think the extreme complexity of medicine has become more than an individual clinician can handle. But not more than teams of clinicians can handle.

When you step up to being excellent, use hard work and determination as the powerful force they are. By also being devoted and persistent, over time it will reward you with sparkling success.

A God of love must be a God of justice. It is because God loves that He is just. His justice balances His love and makes His acts of bothlove and justice meaningful.

As llamas have never heard of oxygen, they do not miss it.

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.

The first question [American college kids] asked me was, 'What state is Kuwait in?' They thought Kuwait was in America.

Disgust is so reassuring; it feels like a moral proof.

One in seven Americans lives without health insurance, and that's a truly staggering figure.

If you're a human being walking the earth, you're weird, you're strange, you're psychologically challenged.

The people believed that while the courts would be independent, they would defer to the political branches on policy issues.

Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.