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Quote by Simon Winchester

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The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary

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Author

Simon Winchester
Simon Winchester

Simon Winchester is a British author renowned for his in-depth explorations of exploration and natural history. His works often combine personal experience with extensive academic research, covering a wide range of fields including geography, geology, history, and anthropology. more

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“In order to maintain a modicum of sanity needed to continue the vigorous fight for survival, we busy ourselves with repressing and then remembering that our ultimate fate is death. Living vigorously necessitates sparring with the forerunning concept of death. At times, it seems necessary to refuse acknowledging the tragic brevity of our existence while we greedily chase our innermost dream of experiencing and voicing the ecstasy of life. We dual constantly between the conflicting emotions wrung from expressing our enthusiasm for life, and capitulating to the dire ramifications of growing despondency given our keen awareness that we are operating under a death sentence. We begin in earnest and gladness, but we must be ever vigilant to avoid unraveling in despondency and madness.”

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“In the center of a garden reared a tree, glinting golden in the darkness, peppered with flowers that smelled of blood. The great yawning hollows of the trunk invited her in, promising a snug sanctuary. "They will suffocate you like a pillow of sand and you will never emerge alive," a chittering voice cried out. The patterns engraved on the tree's bark dizzied her eyes. "If your finger brushes against them, you'll know true madness." She glanced away from the bark, her eyes caught by a movement in the branches. A squirrel scurried down the trunk towards her. It didn't seem to be bothered that its tail was swathed in flames, or that something had eaten away at half of its rot-black face and torso. Death's pet project bared its teeth at her. "Do you really want to be here?”

TreeMadnessNightmareDystopianDark FantasyTree Of LifeDystopian FictionSquirrelPet ProjectTree Of Death
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“In 1978, an activist named Judi Chamberlin published one of the movement's most revered manifestos called 'On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System.' Chamberlin had been diagnosed with a mental illness and found traditional psychiatric intervention unhelpful and even traumatic. She did recover, however, and she credited that recovery to an alternative mental health care facility she stayed at in Canada. Chamberlin and many other madness pride activists believe that people with 'lived experience' should not only have a proverbial seat at the table when it comes to the creation of mental health care systems, but that such people are uniquely equipped to understand what constitutes the best treatment. A slogan Chamberlin sought to make famous was 'Nothing about us without us.”

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“Naispotilas N soitti kirjoittajalle kertoakseen tarinansa: ”Olin nuorena töissä professorin kotiapulaisena. Töitäni lisättiin ja lopulta en niitä kaikkia jaksanut hoitaa, vaan väsyin liiaksi ja jäin sänkyyn makaamaan. Professorin rouva otti yhteyttä äitiini, joka toimitti minut Hattelmalan mielisairaalaan, vaikka en ollut mielisairas, vain väsynyt. En ollut ehtinyt pitkääkään aikaa olla potilaana, kun eräänä iltana hoitajat halusivat ajaa hiukseni. Ymmärsin, että kyse oli aivoleikkaukseen joutumisesta ja säikähdin sekä yritin kieltäytyä. Minun mieltäni ei kuitenkaan asiassa kuultu, äidiltäni oli kysytty jotakin. Aamulla minut nukutettiin ja heräsin side pään ympärillä, haavat ohimolla. Kesti pitkään, ennen kuin ymmärsin mitä minulle oli tapahtunut. Jouduin olemaan mielisairaalassa kymmenen vuotta. Leikkauksessa katkaistiin ilmeisesti unihermot, koska sen jälkeen en ole kyennyt kunnolla nukkumaan. Minusta on leikkauksen jälkeen tuntunut, että olen jotenkin erilainen kuin muut. Eniten minua on loukannut se, että minulta ei kysytty.”

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