"Colonel Kyd, an Englishman, had the following to say regarding general surgical skill in the subcontinent: (In) chirurgery (in which they are considered by us the least advanced) they often succeed, in removing ulcers and cutaneous irruptions of the worst kind, which have baffled the skill of our surgeons, by the process of inducing inflammation and by means directly opposite to ours, and which they have probably long been in possession."

"Dr. H. Scott wrote the following letter on January 12, 1792, again on the subject of Indian surgery: In medicine I shall not be able to praise their science very much. It is one of those arts which is too delicate in its nature to bear war and oppression and the revolutions of governments. The effects of surgical operation are more obvious, more easily acquired and lost by no means so readily. Here I should have much to praise. They practise with great success the operation of depressing the chrystalline lens when become opake and from time immemorial they have cut for the stone at the same place which they now do in Europe. These are curious facts and I believe unknown before to us."

"You hear me, you bastard!? I’ll cut off your nutsack and nail it to my door! Like one of those Lion doorknockers rich folks got! That will be your balls!"

"Vulnera, quae melius non tetigisse fuit."

"I would like to see the day when somebody would be appointed surgeon somewhere who had no hands, for the operative part is the least part of the work."

"Surgery has a fascination possessed by few occupations. By its aid diseases and injury, incurable by nature alone or aided by altering the constitution of the body fluids, can be eradicated or assisted in such a way that natural processes are enabled to bring about a cure."

"Surgery is the red flower that blooms among the leaves and thorns that are the rest of medicine."

"I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."

"[Words he used to refuse heart surgery the day before he passed away.]"