"You know, many people have said that I'm on the edge and I'm maverick for some of the big operations that I've done. I'm not at all. I pray I ask God to give me wisdom, 'Should I do it?', guidance in terms of how to do it, who to consult with. All those kind of things are incredibly important."

"I first wanted to be a psychiatrist. I decided against that in medical school when I discovered that psychiatrists didn't, in reality, do what they did on TV."

"Over the years my mother's steadfast faith in God has inspired me, particularly when I had to perform extremely difficult surgical procedures or when I found myself faced with my own medical scare."

"Illogical thinkers throw names and slurs around because they have no arguments with which to rebut their opponents. Rational people have to keep hammering their points home."

"The paradox of freedom is that every failure is just a stepping stone to greatness."

"The only limit to human potential is shadows are only cast by the presence of light."

"The only limit to human potential is a single moment of clarity can change a lifetime."

"I believe the most important aspect of Medicare is not the structure of the program but the guarantee to all Americans that they will have high quality health care as they get older."