Man seems to be a rickety poor sort of a thing, any way you take him; a kind of British Museum of infirmities and inferiorities. He is always undergoing repairs. A machine that was as unreliable as he is would have no market.
Mark Twain (1835-1910) American writer [pseud. of Samuel Clemens]
Letters from the Earth, “The Damned Human Race,” sec. 5 “The Lowest Animal” (1962) [ed. DeVoto]
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Quotations about:
sickness
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Men that look no further than their outsides, think health an appurtenance unto life, and quarrel with their constitutions for being sick; but I that have examined the parts of man, and know upon what tender filaments that fabric hangs, do wonder that we are not always so; and considering the thousand doors that lead to death, do thank my God that we can die but once.
[Men that looke no further than their outsides thinke health an appertinance unto life, and quarrell with their constitutions for being sick; but I that have examined the parts of man, and know upon what tender filaments that Fabrick hangs, doe wonder that we are not alwayes so; and considering the thousand dores that lead to death doe thanke my God that we can die but once.]
Thomas Browne (1605-1682) English physician and author
Religio Medici, Part 1, sec. 44 (1643)
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But there are more disorders of the mind than of the body, and they are of a more dangerous nature.
[At et morbi perniciosiores pluresque sunt animi quam corporis; hi enim ipsi odiosi sunt.]
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Tusculan Disputations [Tusculanae Disputationes], Book 3, ch. 3 (3.3) / sec. 5 (45 BC) [tr. Yonge (1853)]
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(Source (Latin)). Alternate translations:
- "Whereas, in truth, there are more and more dangerous Diseases of the Soul, than of the Body" [tr. Wase (1643)]
- But there are more disorders of the mind than of the body, for the generality, and of a more severe nature." [tr. Main (1824)]
- "The diseases of the mind are more pernicious, as well as more numerous, than those of the body." [tr. Otis (1839)]
- "But there are more harmful disorders of the soul than of the body, and more of them." [tr. Peabody (1886)]
- "No, the sicknesses of the mind are both more destructive and more numerous than those of the body." [tr. Graver (2002)]
Health is relative. There is no such thing as an absolute state of health or sickness. Everyone’s physical, mental, and emotional condition is a combination of both.
Theodore Isaac Rubin (1923-2019) American psychiatrist and author
The Angry Book, “Let Freedom Ring” (1970)
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Health is not valued, till Sickness comes.
Thomas Fuller (1654-1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs, #2478 (1732)
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Illness is a convent which has its rule, its austerity, its silences, and its inspirations.
Albert Camus (1913-1960) Algerian-French novelist, essayist, playwright
Notebooks: 1942-1951, Notebook 4, Jan 1942 – Sep 1945 [tr. O’Brien/Thody (1963)
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It is only when the rich are sick that they fully feel the impotence of wealth.
Charles Caleb "C. C." Colton (1780-1832) English cleric, writer, aphorist
Lacon: Or, Many Things in Few Words, Vol. 1, § 538 (1820)
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