12 Quotes by Christiaan Barnard

It is infinitely better to transplant a heart than to bury it to be devoured by worms.

For a dying man it is not a difficult decision [to agree to become the world's first heart transplant] ... because he knows he is at the end. If a lion chases you to the bank of a river filled with crocodiles, you will leap into the water convinced you have a chance to swim to the other side. But you would not accept such odds if there were no lion.

If the poor overweight jogger only knew how far he had to run to work off the calories in a crust of bread he might find it better in terms of pound per mile to go to a massage parlor.

I don't believe medical discoveries are doing much to advance human life. As fast as we create ways to extend it we are inventing ways to shorten it.

On Saturday, I was a surgeon in South Africa, very little known. On Monday, I was world renowned.

The prime goal is to alleviate suffering, and not to prolong life. And if your treatment does not alleviate suffering, but only prolongs life, that treatment should be stopped.

I vowed never again to experiment with such sensitive creatures.

The individual is the brain, not the heart.

Suffering isn't ennobling, recovery is.