Psychiatry in this place is like serving an in-flight meal in the middle of a plane crash. If I wanted to make you well, as a doctor, I should be giving you a parachute, not a cheese-and-pickle sandwich.
Chris CleaveRead
Still shaking, in the pew, I understood that it isn't the dead we cry for. We cry for ourselves, and I didn't deserve my own pity.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the nature of grief, suggesting that we often mourn not for those who have passed, but for our own loss and pain.
Chris Cleave's quote delves into the complex emotions surrounding grief and loss. It suggests that when we cry for the dead, we are ultimately expressing our own sorrow and self-pity rather than honoring the deceased. This realization can lead to a deeper understanding of our own vulnerabilities and the need for self-acceptance, as it acknowledges that it is our own feelings of loss and regret that manifest in our mourning.
Themes
GriefLossSelf-PityMourningEmotions
In practice
Example use cases
In a eulogy at a memorial service, to highlight the personal nature of grief.
More from Chris Cleave
All quotes βEven for a girl like me, then, there comes a day when she can stop surviving and start living. To survive, you have to look good or talk good. But to end your story well-- here is the truth-- you have to talk yourself out of it.
Chris CleaveRead
Death, of course, is a refuge. It's where you go when a new name, or a mask and cape, can no longer hide you from yourself. It's where you run to when none of the principalities of your conscience will grant you asylum.
Chris CleaveRead
Is it my fault if I do not look like an English girl and I do not talk like a Nigerian? Well, who says an English girl must have skin as pale as the clouds that float across her summers? Who says a Nigerian girl must speak in fallen English...?
Chris CleaveRead
So when I say that I am a refugee, you must understand that there is no refuge.
Chris CleaveRead
Similar quotes
If the traveller can find A virtuous and wise companion Let him go with him joyfully And overcome the dangers of the way. But if you cannot find Friend or master to go with you, Travel on alone.
Gautama BuddhaRead
Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity's belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul, and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.
Nelson MandelaRead
When you look at yourself from a universal standpoint, something inside always reminds or informs you that there are bigger and better things to worry about.
Albert EinsteinRead
I no longer gave a sick dog's drop for the wisdom, the reliability and the authority of the public's literary mind, those creeps and old ladies of vested reviewing.
Norman MailerRead
To continue living, we have to die. That's the story of humanity - generation after generation - that we are going to die. There's nothing dramatic about death except that one loses one's life.
Jose SaramagoRead
EVERY attack now made on WikiLeaks and Julian Assange was made against me and the release of the Pentagon Papers at the time.
Daniel EllsbergRead