It felt—nearly twenty-five hundred years after Hippocrates had naively coined the overarching term karkinos—that modern oncology was hardly any more sophisticated in its taxonomy of cancer.

There is a duality in recognising what an incredible disease it is - in terms of its origin, that it emerges out of a normal cell. It's a reminder of what a wonderful thing a normal cell is. In a very cold, scientific sense, I think a cancer cell is a kind of biological marvel.

All cancers are alike but they are alike in a unique way.

There is a very moving and ancient connection between cancer and depression.

I think the way we think about cancer, the way we treat cancer, has dramatically changed in the last century. There is an enormous amount of options that a physician can provide today, right down from curing patients, treating patients or providing patients with psychic solace or pain relief.

This was yet another colonial fascination: to create the conditions of misery in a population, then subject it to social or medical experimentation.

Most days, I go home and I feel rejuvenated. I feel ebullient.