“I had to become a patient. And I had to make up my mind quickly before the unthinkable happened. So I went under the knife. And I surrendered, knowing surgery can fail, no matter how hard we wish it to succeed. If surgery could end well - without risk - then it wouldn't be surgery as we know it. Without chance, luck, fate, it can't be surgery. They're all vital ingredients of the recipe.”

“If all of the people in Hollywood had plastic surgery and went on vacation, there wouldn't be a person left in town.”

“There's a distinction between telling death reinforce the meaning of life and "living every day as if it were your last." No one can really live that way with out getting locked up. We cannot realistically approach each day as if it were our last. What would you do if you found out you were going to die at the end of this day? Would you do into work? Would you sit and pray_ Would you run around in a panic trying to get out last batch of letters or e-mails? Giving stuff away? I don't know exactly what any of us would do under such circumstances, but it's my guess that it would not feel too comfortable. It would make me feel utterly dejected. I wouldn't know where to turn first.”

“Death becomes the key that unlocks the door where the beauty and meaning of every living moment can be found. If we espouse the goal of becoming "warriors" - individuals who live in full awareness - then we must learn to refine our actions under death's pressing reminder to live now. There can be no "would have done" or "could have done". There is only a desire to be - all in this single moment.”

“So far, I should be calm and more specifically not like that...Anything else? Would you like to do surgery on my personality? How about open-heart surgery? I´ve got some tools”

“I would not want to live in a universe where good could not ultimately triumph over evil. Or where there was no music. I simply cannot imagine a world without music. It's been said "music is the language of the human soul." Music enlivens us. It injects emotional color. It can lend its energy to help you get better.”

“What's going on? A soul? Did you say, a soul? What the hell! Next thing you know we'll have cholera again. What did I tell you? [He tossed the thin one on his horns.] I told you so... we should operate on all of them, on the imagination. Extirpate the imagination. Surgery's the only answer... nothing but surgery...”