--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It seems a commonly received idea among…" description: "\"“It seems a commonly received idea among men and even among women themselves that it requires nothing but a disappointment in love, the want of an obje..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3e/florence-nightingale-2561_disappointment-love_it-seems-a-commonly-received-idea-among_1109250.jpg" --- # It seems a commonly received idea among men and even among… ![“It seems a commonly received idea among men and even among women themselves that it requires nothing but a disappointment in love, the want of an object, a general disgust, or incapacity for other things, to turn a woman into a good nurse. This reminds one of the parish where a stupid old man was…” quote by Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3e/florence-nightingale-2561_disappointment-love_it-seems-a-commonly-received-idea-among_1109250.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3e/florence-nightingale-2561_disappointment-love_it-seems-a-commonly-received-idea-among_1109250.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e3e/florence-nightingale-2561_disappointment-love_it-seems-a-commonly-received-idea-among_1109250.jpg) > ““It seems a commonly received idea among men and even among women themselves that it requires nothing but a disappointment in love, the want of an object, a general disgust, or incapacity for other things, to turn a woman into a good nurse. This reminds one of the parish where a stupid old man was set to be schoolmaster because he was "past keeping the pigs.”” [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that society often assumes women become good nurses only after personal romantic disappointment or lack of other options, implying a narrow, gendered view of vocation. **In simple terms:** Society thinks women need love loss to become nurses. Key Takeaway Challenge stereotypes about why women choose caregiving careers. Themes gender roles career motivation social expectations Mood reflective critical thoughtful Type analytical historical social commentary When to use this quote - career counseling - women’s health advocacy - educational outreach - historical analysis Key Concepts nursing gender bias vocational identity Questions to Reflect On - How do personal experiences shape career paths? - What other stereotypes limit women’s professional identities? A Different Perspective Assumes all women lack agency in career choice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Disappointment love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disappointment-love/) [Disgust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disgust/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Nurse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nurse/) [Old man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-man/) ## Related quotes > [If Christian scientists had more science and doctors more Christianity, it wouldn't make any difference which you called in - if you had a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/finley-peter-dunne/if-christian-scientists-had-more-science-and-doctors-more/) [Finley Peter Dunne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/finley-peter-dunne/) > [Everyone has left me except my muse, that good nurse. She stays in my hand, a mild white mouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-sexton/everyone-has-left-me-except-my-muse-that-good-nurse-she-stays-in-my/) [Anne Sexton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-sexton/) > [“Qualities of a Good Nurse: Go," I said. "1.Doesn't put on your disabilities," Isaac said. "2.Gets blood on the first try." I said. "Seriosly,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/qualities-of-a-good-nurse-go-i-said-1-doesn-t-put-on-your/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“I nodded. Everyone at the hospital wanted to think that their case was special, and if you were a good nurse, you helped them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassie-alexander/i-nodded-everyone-at-the-hospital-wanted-to-think-that-their-case-was/) [Cassie Alexander](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassie-alexander/) > [Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dag-hammarskj-ld/constant-attention-by-a-good-nurse-may-be-just-as-important-as-a/) [Dag Hammarskjold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dag-hammarskj-ld/) > [I was a very good nurse, but I burned out after eight years or so because it wasn't what I truly wanted to do.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sue-monk-kidd/i-was-a-very-good-nurse-but-i-burned-out-after-eight-years-or-so/) [Sue Monk Kidd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sue-monk-kidd/) > [“Qualities of a Good Nurse: Go," I said. "1. Doesn't pun on your disability," Isaac said. "2. Gets blood on the first try," I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/qualities-of-a-good-nurse-go-i-said-1-doesn-t-pun-on-your-disability/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“She'd been a good nurse, and now she'd never be a nurse again. She was bitter about it and had turned herself into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/she-d-been-a-good-nurse-and-now-she-d-never-be-a-nurse-again-she-was/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [Each day you must choose, the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-mangini/each-day-you-must-choose-the-pain-of-discipline-or-the-pain-of-regret/) Eric Mangini > [If the behaviour of babies and small children is any guide, we emerge into the world with our tendencies to imbalance already well entrenched.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/if-the-behaviour-of-babies-and-small-children-is-any-guide-we-emerge/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [People try to reconcile you to a disappointment in love by asking why you should cherish a passion for an object that has proved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/people-try-to-reconcile-you-to-a-disappointment-in-love-by-asking-why/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [“No one inflicts more suffering than a woman embittered by disappointment in love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-davis/no-one-inflicts-more-suffering-than-a-woman-embittered-by/) [Miranda Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-davis/) > [“Disappointment over love affairs, generally has the effect of driving men to drink, and women to ruin; and this, because most people never learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill/disappointment-over-love-affairs-generally-has-the-effect-of-driving/) [Napoleon Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-hill/) > [Maybe they were right. Maybe I did get my hopes up to high. Maybe I was over my head. Maybe I am the stupid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/maybe-they-were-right-maybe-i-did-get-my-hopes-up-to-high-maybe-i-was/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [But love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice, or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/but-love-is-always-new-regardless-of-whether-we-love-once-twice-or-a-2/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) ## More by Florence Nightingale > [We know nothing of the principle of health, the positive of which pathology is the negative, except from observation and experience. And nothing but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/we-know-nothing-of-the-principle-of-health-the-positive-of-which/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) > [The specific disease doctrine is the grand refuge of weak, uncultured, unstable minds, such as now rule in the medical profession. There are no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/the-specific-disease-doctrine-is-the-grand-refuge-of-weak-uncultured/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) > [It may seem a strange principle to enunciate as the very first requirement in a hospital that it should do the sick no harm.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/it-may-seem-a-strange-principle-to-enunciate-as-the-very-first/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) > [Nursing is a progressive art such that to stand still is to go backwards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/nursing-is-a-progressive-art-such-that-to-stand-still-is-to-go/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) > [“It is often thought that medicine is the curative process. 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All my admirers are married; most of my friends are dead; and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/i-have-learned-to-know-god-i-have-recast-my-social-belief-all-my/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) > [For it may safely be said, not that the habit of ready and correct observation will by itself make us useful nurses, but that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/for-it-may-safely-be-said-not-that-the-habit-of-ready-and-correct/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) > [I cannot remember the time when I have not longed for death. ... for years and years I used to watch for death as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/i-cannot-remember-the-time-when-i-have-not-longed-for-death-for-years/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) > [A dark house is always an unhealthy house, always an ill-aired house, always a dirty house. Want of light stops growth and promotes scrofula,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/a-dark-house-is-always-an-unhealthy-house-always-an-ill-aired-house/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) > [If I could give you information of my life, it would be to show how a woman of very ordinary ability has been led…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/if-i-could-give-you-information-of-my-life-it-would-be-to-show-how-a/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) > [Variety of form and brilliancy of colour in the objects presented to patients are actual means of recovery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/florence-nightingale/variety-of-form-and-brilliancy-of-colour-in-the-objects-presented-to/) [Florence Nightingale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) [Explore all 160 Florence Nightingale quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/florence-nightingale/) ## More Disappointment love quotes > [Maybe they were right. Maybe I did get my hopes up to high. Maybe I was over my head. Maybe I am the stupid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/maybe-they-were-right-maybe-i-did-get-my-hopes-up-to-high-maybe-i-was/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“No one inflicts more suffering than a woman embittered by disappointment in love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-davis/no-one-inflicts-more-suffering-than-a-woman-embittered-by/) [Miranda Davis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-davis/) > [If the behaviour of babies and small children is any guide, we emerge into the world with our tendencies to imbalance already well entrenched.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/if-the-behaviour-of-babies-and-small-children-is-any-guide-we-emerge/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [But love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice, or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/but-love-is-always-new-regardless-of-whether-we-love-once-twice-or-a-2/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [Each day you must choose, the pain of discipline or the pain of regret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-mangini/each-day-you-must-choose-the-pain-of-discipline-or-the-pain-of-regret/) Eric Mangini > [People try to reconcile you to a disappointment in love by asking why you should cherish a passion for an object that has proved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hazlitt/people-try-to-reconcile-you-to-a-disappointment-in-love-by-asking-why/) [William Hazlitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hazlitt/) > [“Disappointment over love affairs, generally has the effect of driving men to drink, and women to ruin; and this, because most people never learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-hill/disappointment-over-love-affairs-generally-has-the-effect-of-driving/) [Napoleon Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-hill/) > [If I am to meet with a disappointment, the sooner I know it, the more of life I shall have to wear it off.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/if-i-am-to-meet-with-a-disappointment-the-sooner-i-know-it-the-more/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/disappointment-defeat-and-despair-are-the-tools-god-uses-to-show-us/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) [Browse all 10 Disappointment love quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disappointment-love/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It seems a commonly received idea among men and even among women themselves that it requires nothing but a disappointment in love, the want of an object, a general disgust, or incapacity for other things, to turn a woman into a good nurse. 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