Somehow, instead of holding on to the lifelong identity that was slipping away from him, he managed to redefine it. He moved his line in the sand. Th… - Atul Gawande

You may not control life's circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them.

He moved his line in the sand. This is what it means to have autonomy — you may not control life's circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them.

This is what it means to have autonomy - you may not control life's circumstances, but getting to be the author of your life means getting to control what you do with them.

The problem with medicine and the institutions it has spawned for the care of the sick and the old is not that they have had an incorrect view of what makes life significant. The problem is that they have had almost no view at all. Medicine’s focus is narrow. Medical professionals concentrate on repair of health, not sustenance of the soul. Yet — and this is the painful paradox — we have decided that they should be the ones who largely define how we live in our waning days.

Yet — and this is the painful paradox — we have decided that they should be the ones who largely define how we live in our waning days.

Medicine’s ground state is uncertainty. And wisdom — for both patients and doctors — is defined by how one copes with it.