There is all the difference in the world between teaching children about religion and handing them over to be taught by the religious.
Polly ToynbeeRead
My mother begged doctors to end her life. She was beyond the physical ability to swallow enough of the weak morphine pills she had around her. When she knew she was dying I promised to make sure she could go at a time of her choosing, but it was impossible. I couldn't help.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects the struggle of facing death and the desire for autonomy in dying.
Polly Toynbee's quote poignantly illustrates the complex emotions surrounding terminal illness and the deep wish for control at the end of life. It captures the difficult reality that, despite a loved one's desire for peace and choice in their departure, circumstances may render such wish impossible, leaving caregivers in a place of helplessness and sorrow.
Themes
DeathAutonomyCaregivingTerminal IllnessStruggle
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about end-of-life care and patient autonomy.
More from Polly Toynbee
All quotes →Similar quotes
I feel ashamed now that I tried to take my life. It is such a precious thing. I had no one to talk me out of my despair and that was a mistake. You need to keep people close. You need to give them access to your heart.
Mitch AlbomRead
It has been my face. It's got older still, or course, but less, comparatively, than it would otherwise have done. It's scored with deep, dry wrinkles, the skin is cracked. But my face hasn't collapsed, as some with fine feature have done. It's kept the same contours, but its substance has been laid waste. I have a face laid waste.
Marguerite DurasRead
But life is just a party, and parties weren't meant to last.
PrinceRead
Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.
Anne LamottRead
And life goes on, which seems kind of strange and cruel when you're watching someone die. But there's a joy and an abundance of everything, like information and laughter and summer weather and so many stories.
Melina MarchettaRead
Life, to me, doesn't feel like a straightforward story; it doesn't make sense for me to get up there and just tell a story. Life feels like what my show feels like: chaotic and strange and disconnected.
Bo BurnhamRead