Samuel Shem Quotes

There is no body cavity that cannot be reached with a number fourteen needle and a good strong arm.
Samuel Shem
It ain't easy to do nothing, now that society is telling everyone that their body is fundamentally flawed and about to self-destruct. People are afraid they're on the verge of death all the time
Samuel Shem
Gomers are human beings who have lost what goes into being human beings. They want to die, and we will not let them.
Samuel Shem
To do nothing for the gomers was to do something, and the more conscientiously I did nothing the better they got.
Samuel Shem
The patient is the one with the disease
Samuel Shem
At a cardiac arrest, the first procedure is to take your own pulse
Samuel Shem
A BMS hears hoofbeats outside his window, the first thing he thinks of is a zebra
Samuel Shem
We were putting into these gomers our fear of death, but who knew if they feared death? Perhaps they welcomed death like a dear long-lost cousin, grown old but still known, coming to visit, relieving the loneliness, the failing of the senses, the fury of the half-blind looking into the mirror and not recognizing who is looking back, a dear friend, a dear reliever, a healer who would be with them for an eternity, the same eternity as the long ago, before birth.
Samuel Shem
Basch: So why don't you ask her out?The Runt: I'm scared she wouldn't like me and say no.-So what? What have you got to lose?-The possibility -if she says no- that she might have said yes. Whatever I do, I don't want to lose that possibility.
Samuel Shem
Only write if you can't not.
Samuel Shem