I think of success as reaching beyond ourselves and helping other people in specific ways.

There is a tendency of people to try to make you believe only a few people are smart. As a brain surgeon, I know better than that.

As a pediatric neurosurgeon, I frequently faced life and death situations, and had to come up with the right diagnosis, the right plan, and execute that plan frequently with other colleagues.

It does not matter where we come from or what we look like. If we recognize our abilities, are willing to learn and to use what we know in helping others, we will always have a place in the world.

A good surgeon doesn't just concentrate on technical ability, but also on the appropriateness of what you're doing.

Uninformed people can be easily manipulated.

Obamacare is really I think the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.

God has given to every one of us more than fourteen billion cells and connections in our brain. Now why would God give us such a complex organ system unless He expects us to use it?

Our schools too often want to shut people up so they can't talk about real solutions. People who think differently tend to clam up because they think something is wrong with their ideas.

Everyone in the world worth being nice to. Because God never creates inferior human beings, each person deserves respect and dignity.

Education does not necessarily make one wise?

Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom.

The best way to become poor is to give nothing.

I'm awful at hiding it when I'm miserable. Sometimes I think if I were better at it maybe I'd be able to fool myself. Trick the misery right out of me.

Fainthearted animals move about in herds. The lion walks alone in the desert. Let the poet always walk thus.

Painting self-portraits without clothes on has also given me some publicity.

Adversity is only sand on your track to prevent you from skidding.

The first light had cast the first shadow.

The Monk competition did open some doors. And I was thankful for that.

It’s hard, in America, not to equate ‘happiness’ with ‘things’.

They that soar too high, often fall hard.