---
title: "1 Autopsies Quotes By Richard Selzer"
description: "1 Autopsies quotes by Richard Selzer. Plus more from Richard Selzer and more Autopsies sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd6/richard-selzer-27753_autopsy_autopsies-give-us-the-facts-but-not-the_1216267.jpg"
---

> [Autopsies give us the facts but not the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/autopsies-give-us-the-facts-but-not-the-truth/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fd6/richard-selzer-27753_autopsy_autopsies-give-us-the-facts-but-not-the_1216267.jpg)

## More by Richard Selzer

> [You cannot separate passion from pathology any more than you can separate a person's spirit from his body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/you-cannot-separate-passion-from-pathology-any-more-than-you-can/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [And If the surgeon is like a poet, then the scars you have made on countless bodies are like verses into the fashioning of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/and-if-the-surgeon-is-like-a-poet-then-the-scars-you-have-made-on/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [If I quit surgery, I'd be afraid I'd dry up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/if-i-quit-surgery-i-d-be-afraid-i-d-dry-up/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [Thus is the fruit of the Earth taken, its flesh torn. Thus is it given over standing, toward rot. It is the principle of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/thus-is-the-fruit-of-the-earth-taken-its-flesh-torn-thus-is-it-given/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [A minor operation is one that is done on someone else](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/a-minor-operation-is-one-that-is-done-on-someone-else/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [You do not die all at once. Some tissues live on for minutes, even hours, giving still their little cellular shrieks, molecular echoes of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/you-do-not-die-all-at-once-some-tissues-live-on-for-minutes-even/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [“You will see at precisely what moment the writer ceases to think of his character as an instrument to be manipulated and think of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/you-will-see-at-precisely-what-moment-the-writer-ceases-to-think-of/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [Autopsies give us the facts but not the truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/autopsies-give-us-the-facts-but-not-the-truth/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [I never intended to become a writer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/i-never-intended-to-become-a-writer/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [The liver, that great maroon snail: No wave of emotion sweeps it. Neither music nor mathematics gives it pause in its appointed tasks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/the-liver-that-great-maroon-snail-no-wave-of-emotion-sweeps-it/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [Surgery is the red flower that blooms among the leaves and thorns that are the rest of medicine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/surgery-is-the-red-flower-that-blooms-among-the-leaves-and-thorns/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [If people understood that doctors weren't divine, perhaps the odor of malpractice might diminish.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/if-people-understood-that-doctors-weren-t-divine-perhaps-the-odor-of/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [I contemplate the body, dead and diseased as well as alive and healthy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/i-contemplate-the-body-dead-and-diseased-as-well-as-alive-and-healthy/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [The surgeon knows all the parts of the brain but he does not know his patient's dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/the-surgeon-knows-all-the-parts-of-the-brain-but-he-does-not-know-his/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

> [“There are no "great" subjects for the creative writer; there are only the singular details of a single human life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-selzer/there-are-no-great-subjects-for-the-creative-writer-there-are-only/)

[Richard Selzer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-selzer/)

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