George Orwell is a pinnacle writer, for his combination of moral insight and literary writing.

Providing health care is like building a house. The task requires experts, expensive equipment and materials, and a huge amount of coordination.

Most people are squeamish about saying how much they earn, but in medicine the situation seems especially fraught. Doctors aren't supposed to be in it for the money, and the more concerned a doctor seems to be about making money the more suspicious people become about the care being provided.

The vast majority of doctors really do try to take the money out of their minds. But to provide the best possible care requires using resources in a way that keeps you viable but improves the quality of care.

How important is failure - yes, failure - to the health of a thriving, innovative business? So important that Ratan Tata, chairman of India's largest corporation, gives an annual award to the employee who comes up with the best idea that failed.

You need to be able to maintain a healthy voice and fit body to be able to give performances in a big theatre night after night.

When President Barack Obama is trying to persuade Americans not to do something, he has a go-to line: 'That's not who we are.' Whether the issue involves discrimination, immigration, torture, criminal violence or health care, he invokes the nation's very identity.

My dad spent most of my childhood behind bars. He went to jail 17 or 18 times. It was only when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 that we started to have a relationship.