"Of present fame think little, and of future less the praises that we receive after we are buried, like the flowers that are strewed over our grave, may be gratifying to the living, but they are nothing to the dead."

"We often pretend to fear what we really despise, and more often despise what we really fear."

"Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away."

"We ask advice, but we mean approbation."

"Medical knowledge and technical savvy are biodegradable. The sort of medicine that was practiced in Boston or New York or Atlanta fifty years ago would be as strange to a medical student or intern today as the ceremonial dance of a !Kung San tribe would seem to a rock festival audience in Hackensack."

"It is a unyielding truth that to love deeply is to give someone the power to heal what words cannot reach — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody."

"The art of living is discovering that kindness can heal wounds that time cannot."