There are three wants which can never be satisfied: that of the rich, who wants something more; that of the sick, who wants someth...ing different; and that of the traveller, who says, "Anywhere but here."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I had gone into the hospital with the stupid notion that its primary object was the care and comfort of the sick and wounded. It w...as long after that I learned that a vast majority of all benevolent institutions are gotten up to gratify the aesthetic tastes of the public; exhibit the wealth and generosity of the founders, and furnish places for officers. The beneficiaries of the institutions are simply an apology for their existence, and having furnished that apology, the less said about them the better.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Many young girls are ... becoming trained nurses, whose gentle ministrations in the sick-room, skilled touch, patient watchfulness... and unwearied vigils, are as great factors in the care of the sick, as are the professional physicians.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the ...well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Whoever gives advice to the sick gains a sense of superiority over them, no matter whether his advice is accepted or rejected. Tha...t is why sick people who are sensitive and proud hate their advisors even more than their illnesses.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Language must be raked, the secrets of slaughter-houses and infamous hole that cannot front the day, must be ransacked, to tell wh...at negro slavery has been. These men, our benefactors, as they are producers of corn and wine, of coffee, of tobacco, of cotton, of sugar, of rum and brandy; gentle and joyous themselves, and producers of comfort and luxury for the civilized world,--there seated in the finest climates of the globe, children of the sun,--I am heart-sick when I read how they came there, and how they are kept there. Their case was left out of the mind and out of the heart of their brothers.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
On the whole, "organic" illnesses of the body are viewed as a misfortune over which the victim has little control. Not so for "men...tal" illnesses. These diseases of the mind become diseases of the "self." We (our "selves") can distance ourselves from our "bodily" illnesses: "my leg is broken" or "my heart is failing." But, because of mind-body dualism, our mind is our self. "My mind is sick" is not differentiated psychologically from "I am sick." We cannot distance ourselves, take a detached view of our minds: we are our minds. When a disease affects brain function, the afflicted person and those around him feel that the "self" must be somehow in control of the disorder of "self."LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
One must not forget that recovery is brought about not by the physician, but by the sick man himself. He heals himself, by his own... power, exactly as he walks by means of his own power, or eats, or thinks, breathes or sleeps.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
We find nothing easier than being wise, patient, superior. We drip with the oil of forbearance and sympathy, we are absurdly just,... we forgive everything. For that very reason we ought to discipline ourselves a little; for that very reason we ought to cultivate a little emotion, a little emotional vice, from time to time. It may be hard for us; and among ourselves we may perhaps laugh at the appearance we thus present. But what of that! We no longer have any other mode of self-overcoming available to us: this is our asceticism, our penance.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
There is nothing easier for us than to be wise, patient, superior. We drip with the oil of forbearance and pity, we are absurdly j...ust, we forgive everything. For that very reason we ought to be a little more strict with ourselves; for that very reason we ought to cultivate a little emotion, a little vice of emotion, in ourselves from time to time. It may be hard on us; and among ourselves we may perhaps laugh at the spectacle we present in doing so. But what can be done about it? We have no other sort of self-overcoming open to us: this is our asceticism, our penance.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »