Gifted Hands Ben Carson Quotes

Success is determined not by whether or not you face obstacles, but by your reaction to them. And if you look at these obstacles as a containing fence, they become your excuse for failure. If you look at them as a hurdle, each one strengthens you for the next.

Successful people don't have fewer problems. They have determined that nothing will stop them from going forward.

To THINK BIG and to use our talents doesn't mean we won't have difficulties along the way. We will--we all do. If we choose to see the obstacles in our path as barriers, we stop trying. "We can't win," we moan. "They won't let us win.

Do what you have to do so that you can be what you want to be

I came to realize that if people could make me angry they could could control me. Why should I give someone else such power over my life?

I'm a good neurosugeon. That's not a boast but a way of acknowledging the innate ability God has given to me. Beginning with determination and using my gifted hands, I went on for training and sharpening for my skills.

No knowledge is ever wasted.

It's not what you do but that kind of job you do that makes the difference.

By reading so much, my vocabulary automatically improved along with my comprehension.

...I became acutely aware of an unusual ability--a divine gift, I believe--of extraordinary eye and hand coordination. It’s my belief that God gives us all gifts, special abilities that we have the privilege of developing to help us serve Him and humanity. And the gift of eye and hand coordination has been an invaluable asset in surgery. This gift goes beyond eye-hand coordination, encompassing the ability to understand physical relationships, to think in three dimensions. Good surgeons must understand the consequences of each action, for they’re often not able to see what’s happening to see on the other side of the area in which the area they’re actually working.

if you can read, honey, you can learn just about anything you want to know. The doors of the world are open to people who can read. And

being a member of a minority race doesn’t mean being a minority achiever.

One reason I didn’t hold any grudges or harsh feelings toward Dad must have been that my mother seldom blamed him—at least not to us or in our hearing. I can hardly think of a time when she spoke against him.

No one ever said, “This isn’t the way normal people live.” Again, I think it was the sense of family unity, strengthened by the Averys, that kept me from being too concerned about the quality of our life in Boston.

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (RSV).

The culture in which we live stresses looking out for number one. Without adopting such a self-centered value system, we can demand the best of ourselves while we are extending our hands to help others.

close the wounds, and the 22-hour surgical ordeal was over. The Siamese

No knowledge is ever wasted. To quote the apostle Paul: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).

Great things were going to happen in my life, and I had to do my part by preparing myself and being ready.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my mother.

Ben learned an important lesson: sometimes to survive you need to face your fear and overcome it.

I looked up through a scatter of fluttering leaves silhouetted against the rosy autumn sunset.

In any career, whether as a surgeon, a musician, or a secretary, one needs to have a confidence that says, “I can do anything, and if I can’t do it, I know how to get help.

Successful people don’t have fewer problems. They have determined that nothing will stop them from going forward.

The bottom line was that we have only ourselves to blame. We create our own destiny by the way we do things. We have to take advantage of opportunities

creativity is just learning to do something with a different perspective.

God has an overall plan for people’s lives and the details get worked out along the way, even though we usually have no idea what’s going on.

Always put first things first.

It’s all in God’s hands. That’s where it’s always been.

My feet scuffed through the golden leaves carpeting the wide sidewalks. Sunlight and shadow danced on ivy-covered walls.

sure. I know I hated it when a resident disregarded a

Craig is not yours that you should demand to keep him. He doesn’t belong to you, Susan. He is mine.

Influence could get me inside the door, but my productivity and the quality of my work were the real tests.

if you can read, honey, you can learn just about anything you want to know. The doors of the world are open to people who can read.

There isn’t anybody in the world who isn’t worth something,” I say. “If you’re nice to them, they’ll be nice to you. The same people you meet on the way up are the same kind of people you meet on the way down. Besides that, every person you meet is one of God’s children.

I recognized others’ abilities as well. But in any career, whether it’s that of a TV repairman, a musician, a secretary—or a surgeon—an individual must believe in himself and in his abilities. To do his best, one needs a confidence that says, “I can do anything, and if I can’t do it, I know how to get help.

when the Vietnamese came to the United States they often faced prejudice from everyone—White, Black, and Hispanics. But they didn’t beg for handouts and often took the lowest jobs offered. Even well-educated individuals didn’t mind sweeping floors if it was a paying job. Today many of these same Vietnamese are property owners and entrepreneurs. That’s the message I try to get across to the young people. The same opportunities are there, but we can’t start out as vice president of the company. Even if we landed such a position, it wouldn’t do us any good anyway because we wouldn’t know how to do our work. It’s better to start where we can fit in and then work our way up.

I can tolerate amazing amounts of stress and ridicule. By God’s grace, it still doesn’t require any effort to shake off unpleasant, irritating things. God has helped me to conquer my terrible temper, once and forever. During those hours in the bathroom I also came to realize that if people could make me angry they could control me. Why should I give someone else such power over my life? Over the years I’ve chuckled at people who deliberately did things they thought would make me angry. I’m no better than anyone else, but I laugh inside at how foolish people can be, trying to make me angry.

of Jesus Christ and my relationship to Him and remember that the One who created the universe can do anything. I also have evidence—my own experience—that God can do anything, because He changed me. From age 14, I began to focus on the future. My mother’s lessons—and those of several of my teachers—were at last paying off.

70,000 to 100,000 births; twins joined at the head occur only once in 2 to 2.5 million births. Siamese twins received their name because of the birthplace (Siam) of Chang and Eng (1811 - 1874) whom P.T. Barnum exhibited across America and Europe. Most cranio pagus Siamese twins die at birth or shortly afterward. So far as we know, not more than 50 attempts had previously been made to separate such twins. Of those, less than ten operations have resulted in two fully normal children. Aside from the skill of the operating surgeons, the success depends largely on how much and what kind of tissue the babies share. Occipital cranio pugus twins (such as the Binders) had never before been separated with both surviving.

The first brush of violet painted the horizon

It’s not what you know but the kind of job you do that makes the difference.

had

The babies had been successfully anesthetized after only a few hours, a complex procedure because of their shared blood vessels.

listening intently, as their minister told an exciting true story

go on hating myself forever for all the terrible things I’d done. I sank down on the toilet, sharp mental pictures of other temper fits filling my mind. I saw my anger, clenched my fists against my rage. I wouldn’t be any good for anything if I couldn’t change. My poor mother, I thought. She believes in me. Not even she knows how bad I am. Misery engulfed me in darkness. “If you don’t do this for me, God, I’ve got no place else to go.” At one point I’d slipped out of the bathroom long enough to grab a Bible. Now I opened it and began

Both parents came from big families: my mother had 23 siblings, and my father grew up with 13 brothers and sisters. They married when my father was 28 and my mother was 13. Many years later she confided that she was looking for a way to get out of a desperate home situation.

began to read in Proverbs. Immediately I saw a string of verses about angry people and how they get themselves into trouble. Proverbs 16:32 impressed me the most: “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (RSV). My lips moved wordlessly as I continued to read. I felt as though the verses had been written just to me, for me. The words of Proverbs condemned me, but they also gave me hope. After a while peace begin to fill my mind. My hands stopped shaking. The tears stopped. During those hours alone in the bathroom,

something happened to me. God heard my deep cries of anguish. A feeling of lightness flowed over me, and I knew a change of heart had taken place. I felt different. I was different. At last I stood up, placed the Bible on the edge of the tub, and went to the sink. I washed my face and hands, straightened my clothes. I walked out of the bathroom a changed young man. “My temper will never control me again,” I told myself. “Never again. I’m free.” And since that day, since those long hours wrestling with myself and crying to God for help, I have never had a problem with my temper. That

For a long time, Ben had sensed that something was wrong. He had not heard his parents scream or shout at one another for days. He seldom even heard them argue. Instead they would just quit talking to each other until the whole house filled with a deep and disturbing quiet. Those silences gradually became longer and much more frequent. His father seemed to be gone more and more.

I sank down on the toilet, sharp mental pictures of other temper fits filling my mind. I saw my anger, clenched my fists against my rage. I wouldn’t be any good for anything if I couldn’t change. My poor mother, I thought. She believes in me. Not even she knows how bad I am. Misery engulfed me in darkness. “If you don’t do this for me, God, I’ve got no place else to go.” At one point I’d slipped out of the bathroom long enough to grab a Bible. Now I opened it and

The implication was crystal clear: If you have a brain, use it! It’s all you need to overcome any problem life presents. “My mother instilled in us a deep respect for the potential of the human brain, and for me that respect has deepened over the years to an attitude I can only describe as awe. Every time I open a child’s head and see a brain, I marvel at the mystery. This is what makes every one of us who we are. This is what holds all our memories, all our thoughts, all our dreams. This is what makes us different from each other in millions of ways.

and pulled to a stop. He turned to Candy and kissed her—their first kiss. From then on, Ben and Candy were inseparable. They did their homework together. They encouraged each other. They were in love. * * * During his final year of college, Ben applied to medical schools. Unlike many of his classmates who were worried about which medical school would accept them, Ben was confident that he would go to the University of Michigan School of Medicine. He believed so firmly that God wanted him to be a doctor that he never doubted he would be accepted. One day another student who was agonizing about his own medical school applications turned to Ben and asked, “Carson, aren’t you worried?

I don’t know if I’ll get in at Stanford,” one premed said to me after he had sent in his application. “Or anywhere else,” he added. Another mentioned a different school, but the students’ worries were essentially the same. I seldom got involved in what I called freaking out, but this kind of talk happened often, especially during our senior year. One time when this freaking out was going on and I didn’t enter in, one of my friends turned to me, “Carson, aren’t you worried?” “No,” I said. “I’m going to the University of Michigan Medical School.” “How can you be so sure?” “It’s real simple. My father owns the university.” “Did you hear that?” he yelled at one of the others. “Carson’s old man owns the University of Michigan.” Several students were impressed. And understandably because they came from extremely wealthy homes. Their parents owned great industries. Actually, I had been teasing, and maybe it wasn’t playing fair. As a Chrisitan, I believe that God— my Heavenly Father— not only created the universe, but He controls it. And, by extension, God owns the University of Michigan and everything else. I never did explain.

an individual must believe in himself and in his abilities. To do his best, one needs a confidence that says, “I can do anything, and if I can’t do it, I know how to get help.

A penny saved is a penny earned.

Dream Big

I kept thinking how grateful I felt to have been part of this magnificent team. For five months we had been one unit, all specialists and all tackling the same problem together. The staff at the pediatric ICU and the consultants in the children's center reacted spectacularly. They rallied behind us and spent countless hours without charge, working to make this operation successful. As pessimistic as I was about the eventual outcome of the surgery, I still felt a glow of pride in being able to work side by side with the best men and women in the medical field. And the end of the surgery wasn't the end of our teamwork. The postoperative care was as spectacular as the surgery. Everything in the weeks following the surgery confirmed again our togetherness. It seemed as if everyone from ward clerks to orderlies to nurses had become personally involved in this historic event. We were a team--a wonderful, marvelous team.

Sometimes regulations hinder and need to be broken or ignored.

I believe that many of our pressing racial problems will be taken care of when we who are among the minorities will stand on our own feet and refuse to look to anybody else to save us from our situation.

When [...] you’re putting out your best, it’s hard to hide.

Ben Carson: It’s all in God’s hands. Craig: But we believe you let God use your hands.

Ben Carson: I guess God had something to do with this. Craig: I guess God had everything to do with it.

After less than a week on campus I discovered I wan't that bright. All the students were bright; many of them extremely gifted and perceptive. Yale was a great leveler for me, because I now studied, worked, and lived with dozens of high-achieving students, and I didn't stand out among them.

I could easily have decided that life was cruel, that being Black meant everything was stacked against me. And I might have gone that way except for two things that happened during fifth grade to change my perception of the whole world.

I've got two smart boys," she'd say. "Two mighty smart boys." .... "First thing you're going to do is memorize your times tables." .... I learned the times table. I just kept repeating them until they fixed themselves in my brain... Within days of learning my times table, math became so much easier that my test scores soared.... "I've decided you boys are watching too much television," she said one evening, snapping off the set in the middle of a program... "From now on, you boys can watch no more than three programs a week." .... Mother had already decided how we would spend our free time when we weren't watching television. "You boys are going to go to the library and check out books. You're going to read at least two books every week. At the end of each week you'll give me a report on what you read." .... Slowly the realization came that I was getting better in all my school subjects. I began looking forward to. my trips to the library. The staff got to know Curtis and me, offering suggestions on what we might like to read.... By reading so much, my vocabulary improved along with my comprehension. Soon I became the best student in math when we did story problems. .... The final week of fifth grade we had a long spelling bee in which Mrs. Williamson made us go through every spelling word we were supposed to have learned that year. As everyone expected, Bobby Farmer won the spelling bee. But to my surprise, the last word he spelled correctly to win was agriculture. I can spell that word, I thought with excitement. I had learned it just the day before from my library book. As the winner sat down, a thrill swept through me--a yearning to achieve--more powerful than ever before. "I can spell agriculture," I said to myself. "and I'll bet I can learn to spell any other word in the world." .... I can learn about flax or any subject through reading. It is like Mother says--if you can read, you can learn just about anything.... As I continued to read, my spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension improved, and my classes became much more interesting.

In the church, we think of ourselves as all part of God's family. That means that we think of the people of where we worship as brothers and sister--part of our family. The church people have been treating us as the family members we are.

I also praise the cooperative efforts in our pediatric intensive care unit. In fact, this togetherness permeates every aspect of our program here, including our office staff. We're friends, we work well together, we're dedicated to alleviating pain, and we're interested in each other's problems, too. We're a team, and Ben Carson is only part of that team.

I don't believe in being emotionally detached from patients. I work with and operate on human beings, all creatures of God, people in pain who need help. I don't know how I can work on a girl's brain--how I can have her life in my hands--and yet not become involved. I feel particularly strong attachments to children who seem so defenseless and who haven't yet had the chance to live a full life.

The skinny kid from Detroit’s

Hey, Dummy!” Ben looked up. “Dummy” was the nickname his new

Curtis,

if you can read, you can learn just about anything.

I didn’t like general surgery and I wanted to get out. I disliked general surgery so much I was willing to sacrifice trying for a position in the neurosurgery

one day, “you’ve found your chosen field, and you’re already moving into it.