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By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death will seize the doctor too.
William Shakespeare
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on the inevitability of death, emphasizing that even those who help others live longer cannot escape their own mortality.

In this poignant quote, William Shakespeare highlights the transient nature of life and the universal truth that death ultimately comes for everyone, regardless of their role or profession. The notion that a doctor, who extends the lives of others through medicine, is not exempt from death serves as a reminder of our shared human experience and the limits of human effort in the face of mortality.

Themes

LifeDeathMortalityMedicineHumanity

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a eulogy to emphasize the shared fate of all humans.

More from William Shakespeare

As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends, / I must not look to have; but, in their stead, / Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath, / Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not" (5.3.25-28).
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Love bears it out even to the edge of doom.
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Good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.
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Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it till it burns clear.
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Lord, Lord, how this world is given to lying!
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Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
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