

“We look for medicine to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure. But it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line. There is science in what we do, yes, but also habit, intuition, and sometimes plain old guessing. The gap between what we know and what we aim for persists. And this gap complicates everything we do.”
― Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science
― Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science

“You don't stop running because you get old, you get old because you stop running.”
― Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
― Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen

“Skills can be taught. Character you either have or you don't have.”
― Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
― Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly

“Better is possible. It does not take genius. It takes diligence. It takes moral clarity. It takes ingenuity. And above all, it takes a willingness to try.”
― Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance
― Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

“Starting my own business was the only thing that made life’s other risks—marriage, Vegas, alligator wrestling—seem like sure things. But my hope was that when I failed, if I failed, I’d fail quickly, so I’d have enough time, enough years, to implement all the hard-won lessons. I wasn’t much for setting goals, but this goal kept flashing through my mind every day, until it became my internal chant: Fail fast.”
― Shoe Dog
― Shoe Dog
Niklesh’s 2024 Year in Books
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