No one should approach the temple of science with the soul of a money changer.
Thomas BrowneRead
For the world, I count it not an inn, but a hospital; and a place not to live, but to die in.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a perspective on life, viewing the world as a temporary and transitional place rather than a permanent home.
In this quote, Thomas Browne presents a profound contemplation on the nature of existence, likening the world to a hospital rather than a hotel. This metaphor suggests that life is a journey of healing and suffering, where individuals come to this world not to seek permanence but to experience the inevitable journey towards death, highlighting the transient and often turbulent nature of life.
Themes
LifeExistenceDeathTransiencePhilosophy
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the nature of life during a philosophy class.
More from Thomas Browne
All quotes βContent may dwell in all stations. To be low but above contempt may be high enough to be happy.
Thomas BrowneRead
Thus there are two books from whence I collect my Divinity; besides that written one of God, another of his servant Nature, that universal and public Manuscript, that lies expans'd unto the eyes of all; those that never saw him in the one, have discovered him in the other.
Thomas BrowneRead
To be content with death may be better than to desire it.
Thomas BrowneRead
Life itself is but the shadow of death, and souls departed but the shadows of the living.
Thomas BrowneRead
The long habit of living indisposeth us for dying.
Thomas BrowneRead
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We never live; we are always in the expectation of living.
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We have become 99 percent money mad. The method of living at home modestly and within our income, laying a little by systematically for the proverbial rainy day which is due to come, can almost be listed among the lost arts.
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People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.
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Those who hate most fervently must have once loved deeply; those who want to deny the world must have once embraced what they now set on fire.
Kurt TucholskyRead