Quotes from Abraham Verghese

A chasm separates that memory from this moment.

What a bad idea it had been to give the Bible to anyone but priests, Ghosh thought. It made a preacher out of everybody.

Sometimes, if you think you're sick, you will be.

As she bent over the child she realized that the tragedy of death had to do entirely with what was left unfulfilled.

you are an instrument of God. Don't leave the instrument sitting in its case, my son. Play! Leave no part of your instrument unexplored.

Travel expands the mind and loosens the bowels.

Philipose quotes Gandhi: "There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of food.

all fixing what is broken. It is the task of a lifetime. We'll leave much unfinished for

A fool with a tool is still a fool.

The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don't. If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then you'll die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were

is Ã¢â'¬Â¦ clean living will kill you, my friend.

Please lie down. Take off your shirt. Open your mouth. Take a deep breath Ã¢â'¬Â¦ The language of love was the same as the language of medicine

He had become my poster boy, a walking testament to how will and belief can make up for lack of muscle, how anger can overcome blindness.

Tizitash zeweter wode ene eye metah. I can't help thinking about you.

Child, the past is past, and furthermore it's different every time I remember it.

Ghosh sighed. "I hope one day you see this as clearly as I did in Kerchele. The key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don't. If you keep saying your slippers aren't yours, then you'll die searching, you'll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny.

The minutes we spend watching the waves don't count against our life spans

when it's all done, when life is almost over, what do you want to remember?

Screw your courage to the sticking place." - Lady MacBeth

Men like him became stubborn with opposition, because their convictions were all they had.

fused, or—imagine this—sharing one trunk with two necks?

The bloodlines from the Mayflower hadn't trickled down to this zip code.

He cringed when I said those words. No wonder he was reluctant to probe my past. No blade can puncture the human heart like the well-chosen

Prison," I'd heard Ghosh laughingly tell Adid, "is the best thing for a marriage. If you can't send your spouse, then go yourself. It works wonders.