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Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the orange tint begins? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blendingly enter into the other? So with sanity and insanity. In pronounced cases there is no question about them. But in some supposed cases, in various degrees supposedly less pronounced, to draw the exact line of demarcation few will undertake tho' for a fee some professional experts will. There is nothing nameable but that some men will undertake to do it for pay.

Herman Melville#50

Human naturePerceptionAmbiguityMental healthSanity

About this quote

What does it mean?
It is hard to draw a clear line between sanity and insanity, just like blending colors in a rainbow.
In plain terms
Sanity and insanity blend together without a clear line.
What can you take from it?
Mental health exists on a spectrum.

Where it applies

  • psychological evaluation
  • self-reflection

Putting it to work

  • avoid labeling people
  • understand complexity

Questions to consider

  • How do you define sanity?
  • Where is the line for you?

Another view

Some cases clearly require professional diagnosis.

More from Herman Melville

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  2. In the light of that martial code whereby it was formally to be judged, innocence and guilt personified in Claggart and Budd in effect changed places. In a leg…

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  3. But are sailors, frequenters of fiddlers' greens, without vices? No; but less often than with landsmen do their vices, so called, partake of crookedness of hea…

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