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Poets, essayists, chroniclers, wags, and wise men write often about death but have rarely seem it. Physicians and nurses, who see it often, rarely write about it.

— Sherwin B. Nuland How We Die (1994)

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More quotes by Sherwin B. Nuland

Tradition is a persuasive teacher, even when what it teaches is erroneous.

Doctors (1988)

The tendency toward mysticism is ingrained in human nature. Superstition, religion, and medicine have made their long journey together, and even now are unable to let go of one another's hands.

The Mysteries Within (2000)

The later decades of a life become the time for our capabliites to find an unscattered focus, and in this way increase the force of their concentraled worth.

The Art of Aging (2007)

If there is one operation for a disease, you know it works. If there are fifteen operations, you know that none of them work.

With deep sedation or the blessed respite of terminal coma that comes to some at the end of a difficult struggle, the actual hour when the heart stops is indeed often tranquil. Many do, in this way, avoid a tormented passage; but many others are in physical and mental distress till nearly the last moment, or even at the last moment.

How We Die (1994)

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