When an illness is incurable and painful, and makes useful activity impossible, it is mere cruelty to prolong life; at any rate if the sufferer is anxious to die, or has lost his reason. The prolongation of his life can be neither a happiness to himself nor a benefit to society, and is therefore equally unjustified from the standpoint of the individual and from that of the community.

Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) English mathematician and philosopher
“On Euthanasia,” New York American (1934-01-01)
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