Logan Logan

“It’s our job to tell them that imperfect health is and always has been perfect health, and that most of the things that go wrong with their bodies we can’t do much about. So maybe we do make diagnoses; big deal. We hardly ever cure.”
― Samuel Shem, The House of God

“You should not have a favorite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well. You should not copy others, but use weapons which you can handle properly. It is bad for commanders and troops to have likes and dislikes. These are things you must learn thoroughly.”
― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings

“The main source of illness in this world is the doctor’s own illness: his compulsion to try to cure and his fraudulent belief that he can.”
― Samuel Shem, The House of God

“Talking about medicine, I told him with bitterness about my growing cynicism about what I could do, and he said, “No, we don’t cure. I never bought that either. I went through the same cynicism—all that training, and then this helplessness. And yet, in spite of all our doubt, we can give something. Not cure, no. What sustains us is when we find a way to be compassionate, to love. And the most loving thing we do is to be with a patient, like you are being with me.”
― Samuel Shem, The House of God