Bernie S. Siegel

Of course, we often think we have to get sick literally in order to get the rest or pleasure we need in our lives. Bobbie and I therefore taught our children when they were younger that if they needed a day off from school, they should just say that and take a health day, not a sick day. That made them look at life differently. I think all of us need to rethink our attitudes toward health and sickness.

Diseases can be our spiritual flat tires - disruptions in our lives that seem to be disasters at the time but end by redirecting our lives in a meaningful way.

The fundamental problem most patients have is an inability to love themselves having been unloved by others during some crucial part of their lives.

It takes more distress and poison to kill someone who has peace of mind and loves life.

Doctors are busy playing God when so few of us have the qualifications. And besides the job is taken.

Don't do things to not die do things to enjoy living. The by-product may be not dying.

Refusal to hope is nothing more than a decision to die.

The simple truth is that happy people generally don't get sick.

One cannot get through life without pain.... What we can do is choose how to use the pain life presents to us.

In the face of uncertainty there is nothing wrong with hope.

One cannot get through life without pain. ... What we can do is choose how to use the pain life presents to us.

Embrace each challenge in your life as an opportunity for self-transformation.