“As a general rule, if anyone ever asks you to put stockings on a ninety-year old deceased Romanian woman with oedema, your… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Death should be known. Known as a difficult mental, physical, and emotional process, respected and feared for what it is.” — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“It was death that the public was being cheated out of by the funeral industry, not money. The realistic interaction with death… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Death drives every creative and destructive impulse we have as human beings. The closer we come to understanding it, the closer we… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Death might appear to destroy the meaning in our lives, but in fact it is the very source of our creativity. As… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“In many ways, women are death’s natural companions. Every time a woman gives birth, she is creating not only a life, but… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“The most salacious stories—bones ground in a metal blender or torture-spike eye caps—had the power to disrupt people’s polite complacency about death.… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Whether my mortality caught me at twenty-eight or ninety-three, I made the choice to die content, slipped into the nothingness, my atoms… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“By not talking about death with our loved ones, not being clear through advanced directives, DNR (do not resuscitate) orders, and funeral… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“He explained that he talks about death "all the time" with his friends. They ask each other, "Hey, what you want when… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Dying in the sanitary environment of a hospital is a relatively new concept. In the late nineteenth century, dying at a hospital… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Death might appear to destroy the meaning in our lives, but in fact it is the very source of our creativity. As… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“The 1930s brought what is known as the “medicalization” of death. The rise of the hospital removed from view all the gruesome… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Even with the knowledge that they may die a slow, grueling death, many people still wish to remain kept alive at all… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Left to their own devices, human bodies rot, decompose, come apart, and sink gloriously back into the earth from whence they came.… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“We know that media vita in morte sumus or, “in the midst of life we are in death.” We begin dying the… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“I have come to believe that the merits of a death custom are not based on mathematics (e.g., 36.7 percent a "barbarous… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“In that moment, standing at the edge of the pit, I'm sure Brébeuf was moved by the death rituals of the Wendat… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Many children and grandchildren of immigrants, have, like Sarah, found themselves severed from their family’s cultural rituals. The funeral system in the… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Accepting death doesn't mean you won't be devastated when someone you love dies. It means you will be able to focus on… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“There has never been a time in the history of the world when a culture has broken so completely with traditional methods… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“In writing The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford wasn’t trying to improve our relationship with death, she was trying to improve… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“The Greek historian Herodotus, writing over two thousand years ago, produced one of the first descriptions of one culture getting worked up… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“It is worth noting that the main players in the recomposition project are women—scientists, anthropologists, lawyers, architects. Educated women, who have the… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Every culture has death rituals with the power to shock the uninitiated and challenge our personal web of significance—from the Wari’ roasting… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Dead people look very, very dead. It is difficult to grasp what that means, since it’s unlikely that any of us will stumble across… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“The most salacious stories—bones ground in a metal blender or torture-spike eye caps—had the power to disrupt people’s polite complacency about death. Rather than… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“We do not (and will not) have the resources to properly care for our increasing elderly population, yet we insist on medical intervention to… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“He explained that he talks about death "all the time" with his friends. They ask each other, "Hey, what you want when you die?"… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Many children and grandchildren of immigrants, have, like Sarah, found themselves severed from their family’s cultural rituals. The funeral system in the United States… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“I have come to believe that the merits of a death custom are not based on mathematics (e.g., 36.7 percent a "barbarous act"), but… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“It was death that the public was being cheated out of by the funeral industry, not money. The realistic interaction with death and the… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Exposing a young child to the realities of love and death is far less dangerous than exposing them to the lie of the happy… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Rather than let author and environmentalist Edward Abbey be buried in a traditional cemetery, his friends stole his body, wrapped it in a sleeping… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“The ICU was not the thrill ride I had expected. Turns out, they never called the high school student in from the reception desk… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Death should be known. Known as a difficult mental, physical, and emotional process, respected and feared for what it is.” — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Untreated, a dead person’s face looks horrific, at least by our very narrow cultural expectations. Their droopy, open eyes cloud over in a vacant… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
