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“All my imagined futures have turned into memories. Today, there’s more past than yesterday. But is there any less future?”
― Elisa Gabbert, Normal Distance

“Is the practice of medicine a business or is it a vocation? Where does the balance lie between doing well and doing good? The hypocrisy of doctors—money and medicine are rarely far apart—has long been the stuff of satire and criticism. The dictionary definition of the word “vocation” talks of a “special urge” or of a “calling”—but there are many reasons why people choose to become doctors, and most of them have little to do with altruism. Doctors, of course, will all differ as to where they find a balance between money and morality, just as they will vary as to where they find a balance between compassion and scientific detachment, another tightrope they have to negotiate.”
― David Nott, War Doctor Surgery on the Front Line:

“But despite this, the idea of the doctor as hero is deeply ingrained, and many doctors—especially in the early years of their careers—like to think of themselves as heroic. They usually soon discover that medical heroism is mainly a matter of hard work and long hours—inevitable parts of medical practice—even though in countries such as America and England there is now talk of the need for unheroic “work-life balance” and the dangers of “physician burnout.”
― David Nott, War Doctor Surgery on the Front Line:

“Before we are born, we exist even less than after we die. We should tremble when we think of that time. How long until we exist so little again? The past happens fast. If there was infinite past, the sky would be nothing but starlight. “Observed darkness and nonuniformity of night” make us finite. There are few stars, moving farther apart. The past is bright, but black and white. The future is dim but in color. The past is still. The future trembles.”
― Elisa Gabbert, Normal Distance