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I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience.

— Dorothea Dix Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts on the Conditions of the Prisons (1843)

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More quotes by Dorothea Dix

In a world where there is so much to be done, I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do.

The condition of human beings, reduced to the extremest states of degradation and misery, cannot be exhibited in softened language, or adorn a polished page.

Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts on the Conditions of the Prisons (1843)

Familiarity with suffering, it is said, blunts the sensibilities, and where neglect once finds a footing other injuries are multiplied.

Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts on the Conditions of the Prisons (1843)

All experience shows that insanity seasonably treated is as certainly curable as a cold or a fever. Recovery is the rule; permanent disease the exception.

On Behalf of the Insane Poor in Kentucky (1846)

In Kentucky alone, of all the States I have traversed, it has not been my painful experience to find the insane poor, filling the cells of poor- houses, or the dungeons of the jails.

On Behalf of the Insane Poor in Kentucky (1846)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Dorothea Dix (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.