“My dad was a surgeon in Egypt. He was a general surgeon. As a little b...” — Magdi Yacoub Quote

“My dad was a surgeon in Egypt. He was a general surgeon. As a little boy I always admired what he was doing, and I wanted to do surgery.”

“I always wanted to be a surgeon, because I had a lot of admiration for my father, who is also a surgeon. I also wanted to be a heart surgeon. That was motivated by the fact that my young aunt, a sister of my dad, died in her early 20s of a correctable heart disease.”

“If I wasn't going to be a surgeon, I wanted to be a farmer or grow oranges or something like that. I grow flowers now - orchids. That is something that I find very interesting.”

“Terry Gilliam is someone I'd always deeply admired. I saw his films when I was a child.”

“Growing up, I admired old cars. In Chicago, on the South Side, people didn't have the newest cars, but one thing I always noticed was that they took good care of their cars. It was a pride thing. Even if you had a funky Oldsmobile, you kept it clean. You changed the oil. You took a toothbrush to the rims.”

“I'm going to miss some of the boys on the Rockies... But coming to a team like St. Louis with great players and great history, I'm just super excited. I've always admired this organization from afar.”