When I do an operation, it's half a dozen people. When it goes beautifully, it's like a symphony, with everybody playing their part.

Life is choices, and they are relentless. No sooner have you made one choice than another is upon you.

Man is fallible, but maybe men are less so.

This was not guilt: guilt is what you feel when you have done something wrong. What I felt was shame: I was what was wrong.

My own son has a congenital heart condition, where his life was saved by a cardiac surgeon stepping in at 11 days of life to save his life. But he is now 21 years old because of constant monitoring and working with him with a primary care physician. that's the only reason now that he's getting to live a long and healthy life. That's what we're not rewarding. They don't have the kind of resources and commitment that we are giving to people like me. I have millions of dollars of equipment available to me when I go to work every day in an operating room.

Arriving at an acceptance of one's mortality is a process, not an epiphany.

You know, 97 percent of the time, if you come into a hospital, everything goes well. But three percent of the time, we have major complications.