The man who inspired me most, I think, was Dr. Alfred Blalock, who was professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins. He was a rather simple man with a burni…

- Denton Cooley

[The heart is] really a fascinating organ. It's about the only organ in the body that you can really witness its function. Doing things. And so on. S…

- Denton Cooley

A successful surgeon should be a man who, when asked to name the three best surgeons in the world, would have difficulty deciding on the other two.

- Denton Cooley

The spirit of Texas seems to pervade our everyday existence. Our desire is to be superlative, not only the largest, but also the best in the United …

- Denton Cooley

Get a scalpel, and practice just, say, cutting a piece of meat or something like that. You sort of learn how you want to hold your fingers, and that …

- Denton Cooley

Of the many 'firsts' with which I have been involved at the Texas Heart Institute —including the first successful human heart transplant in the Unite…

- Denton Cooley

I still take failure very seriously, but I've found that the only way I could overcome the feeling is to keep on working, and trying to benefit from …

- Denton Cooley

I think work is a privilege. ... It keeps you alive, spiritually.

- Denton Cooley

I think confidence is something you build gradually, with experience. I've always felt that maybe one of the reasons that I did well as a student and…

- Denton Cooley