How can a doctor judge a woman's sanity by merely bidding her good morning and refusing to hear her pleas for release? Even the sick ones know it is useless to say anything, for the answer will be that it is their imagination.
Nellie BlyRead
I have watched patients stand and gaze longingly toward the city they in all likelihood will never enter again. It means liberty and life; it seems so near, and yet heaven is not further from hell
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the longing for freedom and life that may be forever out of reach for some individuals, particularly those facing severe limitations.
In this quote, Nellie Bly captures the profound emotional struggle of patients who, from their confined state, yearn for the liberty and vibrancy of the outside world that they may never experience again. It underscores the bittersweet nature of hope and desire, as even though the goal of liberation feels tantalizingly close, the reality of their situation renders it almost unattainable, emphasizing an intense juxtaposition between life and the constraints of fate.
Themes
PatientsLibertyLifeLongingFreedom
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared in a healthcare seminar to illustrate the emotional struggles of patients.
More from Nellie Bly
All quotes →'VERY WELL,' I SAID ANGRILY, 'START THE MAN, AND I'LL START THE SAME DAY FOR SOME OTHER NEWSPAPER AND BEAT HIM.'
Nellie BlyRead
I always had a desire to know asylum life more thoroughly - a desire to be convinced that the most helpless of God's creatures, the insane, were cared for kindly and properly.
Nellie BlyRead
People in the world can never imagine the length of days to those in asylums. They seemed never ending, and we welcomed any event that might give us something to think about as well as talk of.
Nellie BlyRead
COULD I PASS A WEEK IN THE INSANE WARD AT BLACKWELL'S ISLAND? I SAID I COULD AND I WOULD. AND I DID.
Nellie BlyRead
I shuddered to think how completely the insane were in the power of their keepers, and how one could weep and plead for release, and all of no avail, if the keepers were so minded.
Nellie BlyRead
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