---
title: "5 Understand Backward Quotes By Abraham Verghese"
description: "5 Understand Backward quotes by Abraham Verghese. Plus more from Abraham Verghese and more Understand Backward sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a5/abraham-verghese-1533_backward_life-too-is-like-that-you-live-it-forwar_175410.png"
---

> [“Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward." from CUTTING FOR STONE”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/life-too-is-like-that-you-live-it-forward-but-understand-it-backward/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a5/abraham-verghese-1533_backward_life-too-is-like-that-you-live-it-forwar_175410.png)

> [“Life is like that. You live it forward but understand it backward.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/life-is-like-that-you-live-it-forward-but-understand-it-backward/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b05/abraham-verghese-1533_backward_life-is-like-that-you-live-it-forward-bu_1287960.png)

> [You live it forward, but understand it backward.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/you-live-it-forward-but-understand-it-backward/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/324/abraham-verghese-1533_backward_you-live-it-forward-but-understand-it-ba_1757692.png)

> [Life, too, is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward. It is only when you stop and look to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/life-too-is-like-that-you-live-it-forward-but-understand-it-backward-2/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d0/abraham-verghese-1533_backward_life-too-is-like-that-you-live-it-forwar_1775393.png)

> [“Life too is like that. You live it forward, but understand it backward.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/life-too-is-like-that-you-live-it-forward-but-understand-it-backward-3/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3d2/abraham-verghese-1533_backward_life-too-is-like-that-you-live-it-forwar_1782975.png)

## More by Abraham Verghese

> [I've never bought this idea of taking a therapeutic distance. If I see a student or house staff cry, I take great faith in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/i-ve-never-bought-this-idea-of-taking-a-therapeutic-distance-if-i-see/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [I love to read poetry but I haven't written anything that I'm willing to show anybody.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/i-love-to-read-poetry-but-i-haven-t-written-anything-that-i-m-willing/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [We come unbidden into this life, and if we are lucky we find a purpose beyond starvation, misery, and early death which, lest we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/we-come-unbidden-into-this-life-and-if-we-are-lucky-we-find-a-purpose/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [I think America is really in denial about the degree to which residents, particularly foreign medical graduates, man the county hospitals of this country,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/i-think-america-is-really-in-denial-about-the-degree-to-which/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“Do they listen?" He held up a finger. "Every year one does," he said, ginning, "But that one makes it worthwhile. Even Jesus only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/do-they-listen-he-held-up-a-finger-every-year-one-does-he-said/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“It seems we humans never learn. And so we relearn the lesson every generation and then want to write epistles. We proselytize to our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/it-seems-we-humans-never-learn-and-so-we-relearn-the-lesson-every/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [It was all I had, all I've ever had, the only currency, the only proof that I was alive. Memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/it-was-all-i-had-all-i-ve-ever-had-the-only-currency-the-only-proof/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“There it was, Hema must have thought; it was both the sorry and the thank-you that was so long overdue, and the funny thing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/there-it-was-hema-must-have-thought-it-was-both-the-sorry-and-the/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“This is my life, I thought, as my taxi slogged through heavy traffic and inched through the tunnel to Logan Airport. I have excised…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/this-is-my-life-i-thought-as-my-taxi-slogged-through-heavy-traffic/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“I could see that the almost mystical aura of this legendary surgeon -- the single-mindedness, the dedication, the skill -- was mere surface. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/i-could-see-that-the-almost-mystical-aura-of-this-legendary-surgeon/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“As a child I'd longed for Thomas Stone or at least the idea of him. So many mornings I waited for him at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/as-a-child-i-d-longed-for-thomas-stone-or-at-least-the-idea-of-him-so/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“The reader, knowing nothing about the ‘dark continent,’ filled in the blanks. Pictured Stone in a tent, kerosene lamp held up by a Hottentot…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/the-reader-knowing-nothing-about-the-dark-continent-filled-in-the/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“This was what growing up was about: hide the corpse, don't bare your heart, do make assumptions about the motives of others. They're certainly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/this-was-what-growing-up-was-about-hide-the-corpse-don-t-bare-your/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“And as for my father? No, he wouldn't ever walk through those gates; I now knew that. Whatever Thomas Stone had, wherever he was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/and-as-for-my-father-no-he-wouldn-t-ever-walk-through-those-gates-i/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

> [“... telling herself stories about herself in a singsong voice, creating her own mythology.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-verghese/telling-herself-stories-about-herself-in-a-singsong-voice-creating/)

[Abraham Verghese](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-verghese/)

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