Practice is funny that way. For days and days, you make out only the fragments of what to do. And then one day you've got the thing whole. Conscious learning becomes unconscious knowledge, and you cannot say precisely how.

You can't make a recipe for something as complicated as surgery. Instead, you can make a recipe for how to have a team that's prepared for the unexpected.

What is the alternative to understanding the complexity of the world?

No one teaches you how to think about money in medical school or residency. Yet, from the moment you start practicing, you must think about it. You must consider what is covered for a patient and what is not.

I learned about a lot of things in medical school, but mortality wasn't one of them.

The definition of what it means to be dying has changed radically. We are able to extend people's lives considerably, including sometimes, good days.

The battle of being mortal is the battle to maintain the integrity of one's life.