A Farewell to Arms

by Ernest Hemingway

Before he came back three doctors came into the room. I have noticed that doctors who fail in the practice of medicine have a tendency to seek one another’s company and aid in consultation. A doctor who cannot take out your appendix properly will recommend to you a doctor who will be unable to remove your tonsils with success. These were three such doctors.

“No, that is the great fallacy; the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful.”