“Will having a newborn distract from the time we have together?" she asked. "Don't you think saying goodbye to your child will make your death more painful?"
"Wouldn't it be great if it did?" I said. Lucy and I both felt that life wasn't about avoiding suffering.”
― When Breath Becomes Air
"Wouldn't it be great if it did?" I said. Lucy and I both felt that life wasn't about avoiding suffering.”
― When Breath Becomes Air
“Diseases are molecules misbehaving; the basic requirement of life is metabolism, and death its cessation.”
― When Breath Becomes Air
― When Breath Becomes Air
“I began to realize that coming in such close contact with my own mortality had changed both nothing and everything. Before my cancer was diagnosed, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when. After the diagnosis, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn’t know when. But now I knew it acutely. The problem wasn’t really a scientific one. The fact of death is unsettling. Yet there is no other way to live.”
― When Breath Becomes Air
― When Breath Becomes Air
“Words have a longevity I do not.”
― When Breath Becomes Air
― When Breath Becomes Air
“In the end, it cannot be doubted that each of us can see only a part of the picture. The doctor sees one, the patient another, the engineer a third, the economist a fourth, the pearl diver a fifth, the alcoholic a sixth, the cable guy a seventh, the sheep farmer an eighth, the Indian beggar a ninth, the pastor a tenth. Human knowledge is never contained in one person. It grows from the relationships we create between each other and the world, and still it is never complete. And Truth comes somewhere above all of them, where,”
― When Breath Becomes Air
― When Breath Becomes Air
Shivam’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Shivam’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
More friends…
Favorite Genres
Polls voted on by Shivam
Lists liked by Shivam


























