I remember the moment when my overwhelming uneasiness yielded. Seven words from Samuel Beckett, a writer I’ve not even read that well, learned long ago as an undergraduate, began to repeat in my head, and the seemingly impassable sea of uncertainty parted: “I can’t go on. I’ll go on.” I took a step forward, repeating the phrase over and over: “I can’t go on. I’ll go on.” And then, at some point, I was through.
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Paul Kalanithi
Neurosurgeon and writer
United States · 1977–2015
Science and medicine
About
Chief resident in neurological surgery at Stanford, diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer at thirty-six and dead at thirty-seven. His essays for the New York Times and Stanford Medicine became the memoir When Breath Becomes Air, published after his death.
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