---
title: "2 Fallibility Quotes By Atul Gawande"
description: "2 Fallibility quotes by Atul Gawande. Plus more from Atul Gawande and more Fallibility sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/atul-gawande-1871_changed_after-readinf-some-essay-on-the-nature-o_1407331.png"
---

> [After readinf some essay on the nature of human fallibility, I was very aware that we are the recipients of a huge amount of discovery over the last century. Medicine exemplifies this. And that has transitioned us from a world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/after-readinf-some-essay-on-the-nature-of-human-fallibility-i-was/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/atul-gawande-1871_changed_after-readinf-some-essay-on-the-nature-o_1407331.png)

> [One of the reasons people might be fallible, why we might fail to do what we try to do isignorance, that we have a limited understanding of the laws of the world - the physical laws that govern the world…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/one-of-the-reasons-people-might-be-fallible-why-we-might-fail-to-do/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/418/atul-gawande-1871_achieve_one-of-the-reasons-people-might-be-falli_3003017.png)

## More by Atul Gawande

> [Don’t let yourself be. Find something new to try, something to change. Count how often it succeeds and how often it doesn’t. Write about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/don-t-let-yourself-be-find-something-new-to-try-something-to-change/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [“Wilson spent several days camped out in one government office after another until she had secured an exemption. Unbelievably, she and her husband cleared…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/wilson-spent-several-days-camped-out-in-one-government-office-after/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [What is needed, however, isn't just that people working together be nice to each other. It is discipline. Discipline is hard--harder than trustworthiness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/what-is-needed-however-isn-t-just-that-people-working-together-be/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [“8. Chapter 4 describes the birth of the assisted-living facility concept (Park Place), designed by Keren Wilson to provide her disabled mother, Jessie, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/8-chapter-4-describes-the-birth-of-the-assisted-living-facility/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [When we lived in a society where we had large families that lived together, especially in agricultural societies like my grandfather and father grew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/when-we-lived-in-a-society-where-we-had-large-families-that-lived/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [My biggest fear, that 27 percent of Americans under 65 have an existing health condition that, without the protections of the Affordable Care Act,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/my-biggest-fear-that-27-percent-of-americans-under-65-have-an/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [“..how we seek to spend our time may depend on how much time we perceive ourselves to have. When you are young and healthy,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/how-we-seek-to-spend-our-time-may-depend-on-how-much-time-we-perceive/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [“I cannot pretend he escaped unscathed. The extended period of low blood pressure damaged an optic nerve and left him essentially blind in one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/i-cannot-pretend-he-escaped-unscathed-the-extended-period-of-low/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [The battle of being mortal is the battle to maintain the integrity of one’s life,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/the-battle-of-being-mortal-is-the-battle-to-maintain-the-integrity-of/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [“an average of $94,000 during the last year of life with a metastatic breast cancer. Our medical system is excellent at trying to stave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/an-average-of-94-000-during-the-last-year-of-life-with-a-metastatic/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [“we need practice to get good at what we do. There is one difference in medicine, though: it is people we practice upon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/we-need-practice-to-get-good-at-what-we-do-there-is-one-difference-in/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [People underestimate the importance of dilligence as a virtue. No doubt it has something to do with how supremely mundane it seems. It is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/people-underestimate-the-importance-of-dilligence-as-a-virtue-no/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [Developing a skill is painful, though. It is difficult. And that's part of the satisfaction. You will only find meaning in what you struggle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/developing-a-skill-is-painful-though-it-is-difficult-and-that-s-part/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [Just look at the list of who the lowest-paid people are. Pediatricians are at the bottom. You would also look at internists. You would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/just-look-at-the-list-of-who-the-lowest-paid-people-are-pediatricians/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

> [“When Felix came to this crossroads, the orthopedic shoe to drop wasn’t his. It was Bella’s. Year by year, I witnessed the progression in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/when-felix-came-to-this-crossroads-the-orthopedic-shoe-to-drop-wasn-t/)

[Atul Gawande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atul-gawande/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallibility/atul-gawande/#itemlist",
            "name": "2 Fallibility Quotes By Atul Gawande",
            "numberOfItems": 2,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "After readinf some essay on the nature of human fallibility, I was very aware that we are the recipients of a huge amount of discovery over the last century. Medicine exemplifies this. And that has transitioned us from a world in which people's lives were mostly governed by ignorance to one that's constrained by ineptitude. A century ago, we didn't know, for instance, what diseases afflicted us, what their nature really was, or what to do about them. And that has changed.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Atul Gawande"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/after-readinf-some-essay-on-the-nature-of-human-fallibility-i-was/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/atul-gawande-1871_changed_after-readinf-some-essay-on-the-nature-o_1407331.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/atul-gawande-1871_changed_after-readinf-some-essay-on-the-nature-o_1407331.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/atul-gawande-1871_changed_after-readinf-some-essay-on-the-nature-o_1407331.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“After readinf some essay on the nature of human fallibility, I was very aware that we are the recipients of…” — Atul Gawande",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "One of the reasons people might be fallible, why we might fail to do what we try to do isignorance, that we have a limited understanding of the laws of the world - the physical laws that govern the world and of all the particulars of the world upon which those laws work. And then there's ineptitude, meaning that the knowledge is available, but individuals fail to apply it correctly. The third source is \"necessary fallibility.\" That is, we're never going to be omniscient, there is some knowledge that we will simply never achieve, and there are limits to what we will be able to do.",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Atul Gawande"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atul-gawande/one-of-the-reasons-people-might-be-fallible-why-we-might-fail-to-do/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/418/atul-gawande-1871_achieve_one-of-the-reasons-people-might-be-falli_3003017.png",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/418/atul-gawande-1871_achieve_one-of-the-reasons-people-might-be-falli_3003017.png",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/418/atul-gawande-1871_achieve_one-of-the-reasons-people-might-be-falli_3003017.png",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“One of the reasons people might be fallible, why we might fail to do what we try to do isignorance, that we…” — Atul Gawande",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallibility/atul-gawande/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallibility/atul-gawande/",
            "name": "Fallibility Quotes by Atul Gawande",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallibility/atul-gawande/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ce4/atul-gawande-1871_changed_after-readinf-some-essay-on-the-nature-o_1407331.png"
            },
            "description": "2 Fallibility quotes by Atul Gawande. Plus more from Atul Gawande and more Fallibility sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallibility/atul-gawande/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallibility/atul-gawande/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Fallibility",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallibility/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Atul Gawande",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fallibility/atul-gawande/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```