“Death is the enemy. But the enemy has superior forces. Eventually, it wins. And in a war that you cannot win, you don’t want a general who fights to the point of total annihilation. You don’t want Custer. You want Robert E. Lee, someone who knows how to fight for territory that can be won and how to surrender it when it can’t, someone who understands that the damage is greatest if all you do is battle to the bitter end.”
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
“how we seek to spend our time may depend on how much time we perceive ourselves to have.”
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
“We look for medicine to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure. But it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line. There is science in what we do, yes, but also habit, intuition, and sometimes plain old guessing. The gap between what we know and what we aim for persists. And this gap complicates everything we do.”
― Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
― Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
“Our ultimate goal, after all, is not a good death but a good life to the very end.”
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
― Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
The Insecure Writer's Support Group Book Club
— 435 members
— last activity Sep 28, 2023 02:57PM
IWSG Book Clubbers, The original IWSG Book Club has shifted gears to focus on the creative talents of its members. The book club will be spotlighting ...more
Maria’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Maria’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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