For the world, I count it not an Inn, but a Hospital, and a place, not to live, but to die in.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Life is viewed not as a place of leisure but as a place of sickness where death is inevitable. The world is a hospital for the dying.
- In plain terms
- Life is not a place to stay but a hospital where we eventually die.
- What can you take from it?
- Accept mortality by viewing life as a transient passage.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does this view change how you live?
- Is life a journey or a rest?
Another view
This view can induce despair or neglect of life's joys.
More from Sir Thomas Browne
There is no man alone, because every man is a Microcosm, and carries the whole world about him.
Permalink to quote #26 Men that look upon my outside, perusing only my condition, and fortunes, do err in my altitude; for I am above Atlas his shoulders.
Permalink to quote #28 I can cure the gout or stone in some, sooner than Divinity, Pride, or Avarice in others.
Permalink to quote #25
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