Cutting for Stone

by Abraham Verghese

WE COME UNBIDDEN into this life, and if we are lucky we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and early death which, lest we forget, is the common lot.

You live it forward, but understand it backward. It is only when you stop and look to the rear that you see the corpse caught under your wheel.

the tragedy of death had to do entirely with what was left unfulfilled.