--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Even more than black death he dreaded the…" description: "\"“Even more than black death he dreaded the gaudy gate: the mask of sweet red rubber, the violet overhead lights, the rattling ride through washed corri..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/adam-begley-35096_death_even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-th_222147.jpg" --- # Even more than black death he dreaded the gaudy gate: the… ![“Even more than black death he dreaded the gaudy gate: the mask of sweet red rubber, the violet overhead lights, the rattling ride through washed corridors, the steaming, breathing, percolating apparatus, basins of pink sterilizer, the firm straps binding every limb, the sacred pure garb of the…” quote by Adam Begley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/adam-begley-35096_death_even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-th_222147.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/adam-begley-35096_death_even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-th_222147.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/adam-begley-35096_death_even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-th_222147.jpg) > ““Even more than black death he dreaded the gaudy gate: the mask of sweet red rubber, the violet overhead lights, the rattling ride through washed corridors, the steaming, breathing, percolating apparatus, basins of pink sterilizer, the firm straps binding every limb, the sacred pure garb of the surgeons, their eyes alone showing, the cute knives and angled scissors, the beat of your own heart pounding through the burnished machinery, the green color of the surgeon’s enormous compassionate eyes, framed, his quick breath sucking and billowing the gauze of his mask as he carved.”” [Adam Begley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-begley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator fears the clinical, sterile environment of surgery more than death itself, describing its vivid, unsettling details. **In simple terms:** Surgery feels more terrifying than death. Key Takeaway Acknowledge and address medical anxieties. Themes fear medicine death anxiety sensory overload Mood uneasy intense reflective Type literary descriptive When to use this quote - hospital visits - pre-surgery preparation - patient counseling - medical training - healthcare design Key Concepts mortality clinical environment psychological dread Questions to Reflect On - How does sensory detail affect your perception of medical settings? - What coping strategies help reduce surgical fear? A Different Perspective The description may exaggerate for literary effect, not reflecting all patients' experiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Black death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-death/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Green Color](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/green-color/) [Heart pounding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heart-pounding/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) ## Related quotes > [DEATH = D. Dreaded E. Extinction A. Accumulated T. Throughout H. 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Just less... blue. Or green. Or... whatever color that is. :)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alla/cutting-my-hair-like-this-just-less-blue-or-green-or-whatever-color/) [Alla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alla/) > [STAY HOME FROM SCHOOL FAUX VOMIT: 1 cup of cooked oatmeal 1.2 cup of sour cream (or buttermilk ranch dressing or anything that smells…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-ren-e-russell/stay-home-from-school-faux-vomit-1-cup-of-cooked-oatmeal-1-2-cup-of/) [Rachel Renée Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-ren-e-russell/) > [“The river was glossy, narrow, and quick, a beautiful green color, with the white and maroon striped college punts strung along the near bank.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-finch/the-river-was-glossy-narrow-and-quick-a-beautiful-green-color-with/) [Charles Finch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-finch/) > [Green, the color of growth, or surgent life, enwraps the land. New green, still as individual as the plants themselves. Cool green, which will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-borland/green-the-color-of-growth-or-surgent-life-enwraps-the-land-new-green/) [Hal Borland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hal-borland/) > [“Remember, green’s your color. You are Spring.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gwendolyn-brooks/remember-green-s-your-color-you-are-spring/) [Gwendolyn Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gwendolyn-brooks/) > [“I placed the tubes of paint on the palette and selected a small canvas. I prepared the palette with an assortment of colors, then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-jio/i-placed-the-tubes-of-paint-on-the-palette-and-selected-a-small/) [Sarah Jio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-jio/) > [“The enjoyment of God will be as fresh and glorious after many ages, as it was at first. 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It came so close to Will that he could smell its scent, a pungent mixture of horse sweat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-swanwick/a-hippogriff-flew-past-trailing-laughter-it-came-so-close-to-will/) [Michael Swanwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-swanwick/) > [I remember being shocked when I came out from under the focusing cloth after a minute or two being submerged within that, at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-sexton/i-remember-being-shocked-when-i-came-out-from-under-the-focusing/) [John Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-sexton/) ## More by Adam Begley > [“The Christian Roommates” is not one of Updike’s best stories.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-begley/the-christian-roommates-is-not-one-of-updike-s-best-stories/) [Adam Begley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-begley/) > [“White encouraged Updike’s equally scrupulous commitment. 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An Ivan means just the present moment, the flickering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherynne-m-valente/when-i-say-forever-koschei-whispered-i-mean-until-the-black-death-of/) [Catherynne M. Valente](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherynne-m-valente/) > [ “\[According to 1348 theorists, poisoning of Christian water by Jews was the cause of Black Death.\] Even the poison used to contaminate the Christian… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kelly/according-to-1348-theorists-poisoning-of-christian-water-by-jews-was/) John Kelly > [We are all bound thither; we are hastening to the same common goal. Black death calls all things under the sway of its laws.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/we-are-all-bound-thither-we-are-hastening-to-the-same-common-goal/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [“After the Black Death in the mid-1300s, the persecution of Jews intensified, and many Jews in Europe moved farther east. Some left because life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-goldstein/after-the-black-death-in-the-mid-1300s-the-persecution-of-jews/) [Phyllis Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-goldstein/) > [We need to have a modicum of faith in people's common sense, creativity and will to survive and prosper even in the face of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-higgs/we-need-to-have-a-modicum-of-faith-in-people-s-common-sense/) [Robert Higgs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-higgs/) > [Ring around the rosie. A pocket full of posie. Ashes ashes, we all fall down. Some people say that this poem is about the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-westerfeld/ring-around-the-rosie-a-pocket-full-of-posie-ashes-ashes-we-all-fall/) [Scott Westerfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-westerfeld/) > [“Oh, such a shame, such a shame. Oh, such a shame. What’s it all about anyhow?” “I’ve wondered for a long time.” “But why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/oh-such-a-shame-such-a-shame-oh-such-a-shame-what-s-it-all-about/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [I bet it was pretty hard to pick up girls if you had the Black Death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-bet-it-was-pretty-hard-to-pick-up-girls-if-you-had-the-black-death/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/if-a-black-death-could-be-spread-throughout-the-world-once-in-every/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [“It was the greatest tidal wave of death since the Black Death, perhaps in the whole of human history.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-spinney/it-was-the-greatest-tidal-wave-of-death-since-the-black-death-perhaps/) [Laura Spinney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-spinney/) > [“Accounts from Europe indicate that the danse macabre took another form, inspired by the Black Death, rather like our children's rhyme 'Ring o' Ring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catharine-arnold/accounts-from-europe-indicate-that-the-danse-macabre-took-another/) [Catharine Arnold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catharine-arnold/) > [“In October 1347, several trading ships from Genoa, Italy, pulled into the harbor at Messina in Sicily. Everyone aboard those ships was dead or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phyllis-goldstein/in-october-1347-several-trading-ships-from-genoa-italy-pulled-into/) [Phyllis Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phyllis-goldstein/) > [I have made my bed In charnels and on coffins, where black death Keeps record of the trophies won](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/i-have-made-my-bed-in-charnels-and-on-coffins-where-black-death-keeps/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [Even though we know the origin of diseases, panic sweeps. It's one thing that frightens us, because it's your health and your body -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kimberley-nixon/even-though-we-know-the-origin-of-diseases-panic-sweeps-it-s-one/) [Kimberley Nixon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kimberley-nixon/) > [“I was also one of those people who hadn’t caught up with the latest social networking site. Maura belonged to most of them. She…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-lipsyte/i-was-also-one-of-those-people-who-hadn-t-caught-up-with-the-latest/) [Sam Lipsyte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-lipsyte/) [Browse all 53 Black death quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-death/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Even more than black death he dreaded the gaudy gate: the mask of sweet red rubber, the violet overhead lights, the rattling ride through washed corridors, the steaming, breathing, percolating apparatus, basins of pink sterilizer, the firm straps binding every limb, the sacred pure garb of the surgeons, their eyes alone showing, the cute knives and angled scissors, the beat of your own heart pounding through the burnished machinery, the green color of the surgeon’s enormous compassionate eyes, framed, his quick breath sucking and billowing the gauze of his mask as he carved.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adam Begley" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-begley/even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-the-gaudy-gate-the-mask-of/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Black death" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-begley/even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-the-gaudy-gate-the-mask-of/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/adam-begley-35096_death_even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-th_222147.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/adam-begley-35096_death_even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-th_222147.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/62f/adam-begley-35096_death_even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-th_222147.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Even more than black death he dreaded the gaudy gate: the mask of sweet red rubber, the violet overhead…” — Adam Begley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Adam Begley", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-begley/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Even more than black death he...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-begley/even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-the-gaudy-gate-the-mask-of/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-begley/even-more-than-black-death-he-dreaded-the-gaudy-gate-the-mask-of/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```