Quotes from Abraham Verghese

his oar into water that is as thick and angry as boiling paddy.

We don't have anything to offer, but we began to realize that we had to offer the very things that have made the physician-patient relationship so hallowed for so many reasons, and that is ourselves, our interest, our presence. It may sound strange to say this, but I think a healing can take place even when the disease is incurable and they go on to die. That's a healing that takes place in both the patient and the physician.

God will judge us by what we did to relieve the suffering of our fellow human beings. I don't think God cares what doctrine we embrace.

the growth on his upper lip so sparse that each hair could be named after an apostle.

it is a reminder that the sweetness of life comes with bitterness.

But I learned that ignorance is never revealed if one holds one's tongue. To speak is what removes all doubts.

question," not push for the answer.

It has been fourteen years since he acquired Müller's estate for the consortium that consisted of the friends who had gathered around the Mylins' dinner table on a New Year's Eve. Thirteen since he earned a portion of it, which he named Gwendolyn Gardens after his mother.

This is, after all, his own nightmare, though in his dream the culprit is always leprosy. He is overcome. He takes a deep breath. The journey the two of them embark on together must begin with love, Rune thinks. To love the sick—isn't that always the first step?

Flattery isn't the right word for his portrait. It's empathy—the same quality in the sculptures that surround them. The ancient artists were devotees above all else. Without love of their subject, they'd just be cutting stone; their adoration is what brings it to life.

After a long time, she says, "You won't make my mistake, will you?" Her gaze is soft and smiling once more, her wistful expression gone. "What mistake is that . . . Celeste?" "The mistake, Digby, of choosing to see more in your future mate than the evidence has already suggested.

Not hammer-strokes, but dance of the water, sings the pebbles into perfection. —Rabindranath Tagore

These everyday, unremarkable noises of her youth are now, with the passing of her cherished loved ones, an ode to memory, bearing the past into the present. It is the hour for gracious ghosts.

By the time they return to the lodge in the late afternoon, they've seen so many white men—sa'ippus—and even white women, that Baby Mol no longer wants to touch them to see if the color comes off.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." They are far from being all one.

He alone amongst all the people she knows uses his two ears and one mouth in that exact proportion. She loves him in a way she

The rain never holds anyone back. Her umbrella becomes a halo that goes wherever she goes outdoors, while her bare feet happily slosh through puddles.

there was never anything healing one could say. One could only be. The best friends in such times were those who had no agenda other than to be present, to offer themselves

group thinks the other is inferior by birth, by skin color, by history. Inferior, and therefore deserving less. My father was no slave. He was beloved here. But he was never your equal so he wasn't rewarded as one.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

this water that is our covenant with You, with this soil, with the Life you granted us. We are born and baptized in this water, we grow full of pride, we sin,we are broken, we suffer, but with water we are cleansed of our transgressions, we are forgiven, and we are born again, day after day till the end of our days.

Rune, smiling, reenters the illusion that is the world.

Thomas Christian ladies attend his clinic as faithfully as they attend church, presenting him their aches and pains that are often surrogates for chronic marital woes—he offers placebos and sympathetic homilies, such as "Mullu elayil vinallum, ela mullel vinallum, elakka nashttam." Whether the thorn falls on the leaf, or the leaf falls on the thorn, the leaf suffers. "Aah, aah, you're so right, doctor. My husband is a thorn only, what to do?

Leprosy deadens the nerves and is therefore painless; the real wound of leprosy, and the only pain they feel, is that of exile.