“As soon as we conform anything to language, weve changed it. Use a word and youve altered the world. The poets know this. Its what they try so hard to avoid.”

“In people like us, the craving is as strong as the craving for food or water, the yearning for touch or light or love. I was looking for something--a diversion, an occupation, an unwavering force--...”

“I don't want to be movie-star famous. I want to move people with my writing.”

“I'm a craftsman type of teacher. I don't like the thematic type of teaching that takes place in a lot of colleges.”

“In medical school, you're taught to write in this convoluted, Latinate way. I knew the vocabulary as well as anyone, but I would write kidney instead of nephric. I insisted on using English.”

“When I went for my medical school interview, I had an old paperback of 'Henderson the Rain King' in the pocket of my coat. I was wearing the best clothes I had - a pair of cords and a sport coat - ...”

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”

“The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”

“I rise with every sunrise.”

“To pursue science is not to disparage the things of the spirit. In fact, to pursue science rightly is to furnish the framework on which the spirit may rise.”

“A nation will rise no higher than the strength of its homes.”

“Nothing gets easy. It is just that you understand how it is and how it works. Nothing its difficult its just that you dont understand it and dont know how it works. Understanding something it means...”

“Dont always wish it is easier to be done; wish you have enough power to make it happen. No matter how difficult it is, you can do it when the solution is in your palms!”

“As exciting, difficult, and memorable as our past can be, there comes a time when we have to get on with living.”