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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker fears the shame and physical disfigurement of dying more than death itself, noting how it terrifies loved ones.
In plain terms
Fear of dying comes from shame and how it affects others, not death itself.
What can you take from it?
Face the fear of decay and its impact on loved ones.

Where it applies

  • end of life care
  • confronting mortality
  • personal anxiety

Putting it to work

  • prepare families
  • focus on dignity

Questions to consider

  • What scares you most about dying?
  • How would you comfort a grieving loved one?

Another view

Not everyone views bodily decay as their primary fear.

More from Sir Thomas Browne

  1. This reasonable moderator, and equal piece of justice, Death.

    Permalink to quote #12
  2. Whosoever enjoys not this life, I count him but an apparition, though he wear about him the sensible affections of flesh. In these moral acceptions, the way to…

    Permalink to quote #14
  3. Thus is man that great and true Amphibium, whose nature is disposed to live not only like other creatures in divers elements, but in divided and distinguished …

    Permalink to quote #11

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