Medicine is as close to love as it is to science, and its relationships matter even at the edge of life itself.

Of course love is never earned. It is a grace we give one another. Anything we need to earn is only approval.

If we fear loss enough, in the end the things we possess will come to possess us.

Facts bring us to knowledge, but stories lead to wisdom.

Belief traps or frees us.

Most of the things that give life its depth, meaning, and value are impervious to science.

Inner peace is more a question of cultivating perspective, meaning, and wisdom even as life touches you with its pain.

We burn out not because we don't care but because we don't grieve. We burn out because we have allowed our hearts to become so filled with loss that we have no room left to care.

Oftentimes it's the smallest, seemingly inconsequential acts that make the biggest differences in our lives.

Never stick your tongue out at someone you can't lick.

Don't be humble. You're not that great.

I have never issued an order since I have been the operating head of the corporation.

I have a book in the pipeline of short stories. You want to hear an agent scream, say 'I'm thinking about doing a collection of short stories set in the Ozarks.

It is a constant battle to resist the temptation to have more luxuries, to acquire more stuff, and to live more comfortably.

That's the great thing about a tractor. You can't really hear the phone ring.

I not only lived physically away from my native land, but the values and critical judgments of those closest to me became stranger and stranger.

I told [my daughter Amy] at an early age that she had a good ear. But I didn't influence her music much. She's pretty much developed her style on her own, and she's a talented songwriter.

The single Rose Is now the Garden Where all loves end