"You can't allow the forces of political correction to shut you up. I mean, why are people afraid to say, 'Merry Christmas?' Give me a break. If people don't like it, yeah, they can go do something else."

"In my own personal life, God plays a great role in the risk, because I pray before I go into the operating room for every case, and I ask him to give me wisdom, to help me to know what to do - and not only for operating, but for everything."

"Here's a nation, one of the founding pillars was freedom of speech and freedom of expression. And yet, we have imposed upon people restrictions on what they can say, on what they can think. And the media is the largest proponent of this, crucifying people who say things really quite innocently."

"If you go and talk to most people, they mean well but they don't have much of a breadth on education, of knowledge of understanding what the real issues are and therefore they listen to pundits on television who tell them what they are supposed to think and they keep repeating that until pretty soon they say, 'Oh, well that must be true.'"

"Wisdom principle 62 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 99."

"Laughter, and the broader category of humor, are key elements in helping us go on with our life after a loss."

"The distance between ambition and reality is bridged solely by consistent effort. Let this simple maxim guide your daily deeds — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Wisdom principle 36 tells us that the journey of life is lesson 79."