Robots may cut down on infection and mean a consultant can see more patients, but wouldn't you rather meet the doctor than a machine?

I think that good parenting should allow children to be children. That naivety and slightly open way of looking at the world is very valuable.

By discovering how our minds work, we can improve our learning power and unlock our true potential.

I don't like seeing myself on television and I don't enjoy filming. What I actually enjoy is thinking about how I am going to express something or how we are going to make the visual metaphor.

It is important that legislation keeps pace with scientific progress.

Surgeons always underestimate the pain and disability involved in what they do to people.

I do not know of any credible evidence that suggests Dr Zavos can clone a human being. This seems to be yet another one of his claims to get repeated publicity.

Although religion might be useful in developing a solid moral framework - and enforcing it - we can quite easily develop moral intuitions without relying on religion.

Parents should talk to their children, even when they are babies and can't talk back.

A young woman in her teens has about 300,000 eggs in her ovaries. By the time she is menopausal, none are left.

My first vote was for a communist in east London when I was a medical student. But I've voted Tory, Labour and Lib Dem in my time.

Time is the raw material from which products are made, when products are sold, money is made.

A complying memory has obliterated many of them and edited my childhood down to a brief cinematic blur.

She counted each second, each moment of life stolen from her, moving her closer to death.

WOKING (vb.) To enter the kitchen with the precise determination to perform something only to forget what it is just before you do it.

Once the decision has been made, close your ear even to the best counter argument: sign of a strong character. Thus an occasional will to stupidity.

It is not really necessary to destroy nature in order to gain God's favor or even his undivided attention.

And the prince who had once been a bear pulled close the girl who had once had no name, and kissed her.

Courage does not panic; it prays. Courage does not bemoan; it believes. Courage does not languish; it listens

To expect wickedness from human beings is the best way I know of to avoid surprises. And when I am surprised, it's always pleasantly.

Losing is a learning experience. It teaches you humility. It teaches you to work harder. It's also a powerful motivator.