--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To go on vegetating in cowardly…" description: "\"To go on vegetating in cowardly dependence on physicians and machinations, after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost, that ought to p..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/957/friedrich-nietzsche-15_contempt_to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependen_705067.jpg" --- # To go on vegetating in cowardly dependence on physicians… ![“To go on vegetating in cowardly dependence on physicians and machinations, after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost, that ought to prompt a profound contempt in society.” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/957/friedrich-nietzsche-15_contempt_to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependen_705067.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/957/friedrich-nietzsche-15_contempt_to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependen_705067.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/957/friedrich-nietzsche-15_contempt_to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependen_705067.jpg) > “To go on vegetating in cowardly dependence on physicians and machinations, after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost, that ought to prompt a profound contempt in society.” [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Relying on doctors and technology for life's meaning leads to contempt for society. **In simple terms:** Dependence on medicine erodes life's meaning. Key Takeaway Seek autonomy beyond medical reliance. Themes existence autonomy contempt Mood critical thoughtful Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - chronic illness - elder care - healthcare bureaucracy - personal health decisions Key Concepts nihilism medical ethics philosophy of life Questions to Reflect On - What gives your life meaning beyond health? - How can you balance dependence and independence? A Different Perspective Medical advances can improve life, not diminish it. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contempt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/) [Contempt Society](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt-society-5574480/) [Cowardly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cowardly/) [Cowardly Dependence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cowardly-dependence-5574479/) [Dependence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dependence/) [Euthanasia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/euthanasia/) [Goes on](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/goes-on/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-lost/) [Lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lost/) [Meaning of life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/meaning-of-life/) [Ought](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ought/) [Physicians](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/physicians/) [Profound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound/) [Profound Contempt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/profound-contempt-5574478/) [Prompts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/prompts/) [Right to life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/right-to-life/) [Vegetating Cowardly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vegetating-cowardly-5574477/) ## Related quotes > [Clinton's hands remain incredibly clean, don't they, and Tony Blair's smile remains as wide as ever. 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And a lot of poison at the end, for a pleasant death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/a-little-poison-now-and-then-that-makes-for-pleasant-dreams-and-a-lot/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [More good things in life are lost by indifference than ever were lost by active hostility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-menzies/more-good-things-in-life-are-lost-by-indifference-than-ever-were-lost/) [Robert Menzies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-menzies/) > [I don't think we have to have a personal relation to a life lost to understand that something terrible has taken place, especially in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-butler/i-don-t-think-we-have-to-have-a-personal-relation-to-a-life-lost-to/) [Judith Butler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-butler/) ## More by Friedrich Nietzsche > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority-- where he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-select-man-strives-instinctively-for-a-citadel-and-a-privacy/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“It breaks my heart. 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Life - that is: continually shedding something that wants to die. Life - that is: being cruel and inexorable against everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/what-is-life-life-that-is-continually-shedding-something-that-wants/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [It is thus only this personal feeling of misery that we get rid of by acts of pity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-thus-only-this-personal-feeling-of-misery-that-we-get-rid-of-by/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Writers whose thoughts are expressed with clarity and precision are assumed by readers to be superficial. Where the meaning is obscured, then readers give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/writers-whose-thoughts-are-expressed-with-clarity-and-precision-are/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“he does not wear a twitching, mobile, human face, but rather a mask, as it were, with its features in dignified equilibrium; he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/he-does-not-wear-a-twitching-mobile-human-face-but-rather-a-mask-as/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many it is almost a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/chastity-is-a-virtue-with-some-but-with-many-it-is-almost-a-vice/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The earth is like the breasts of a woman: useful as well as pleasing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-earth-is-like-the-breasts-of-a-woman-useful-as-well-as-pleasing/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written in his own blood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-all-that-is-written-i-love-only-what-a-man-has-written-in-his-own/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Pain makes hens and poets cackle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/pain-makes-hens-and-poets-cackle/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Explore all 3,486 Friedrich Nietzsche quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More Contempt quotes > [Too much familiarity breeds contempt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/too-much-familiarity-breeds-contempt/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [The contempt for law and the contempt for the human consequences of lawbreaking go from the bottom to the top of American society.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/the-contempt-for-law-and-the-contempt-for-the-human-consequences-of/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [Our security depends on having good relationships with our allies. Donald Trump mainly shows contempt for them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-wolfowitz/our-security-depends-on-having-good-relationships-with-our-allies/) [Paul Wolfowitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-wolfowitz/) > [Show your contempt for the problem and your concern for the person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/show-your-contempt-for-the-problem-and-your-concern-for-the-person/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [There is no real elevation of mind in a contempt of little things; it is, on the contrary, from too narrow views that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-fenelon/there-is-no-real-elevation-of-mind-in-a-contempt-of-little-things-it/) [Francois Fenelon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-fenelon/) > [Boasting and bravado may exist in the breast even of the coward, if he is successful through a mere lucky hit; but a just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/boasting-and-bravado-may-exist-in-the-breast-even-of-the-coward-if-he/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/) > [Somebody once told me that if you laugh at a George Bush joke, or you send an email cartoon to your friends that makes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-ramis/somebody-once-told-me-that-if-you-laugh-at-a-george-bush-joke-or-you/) [Harold Ramis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-ramis/) > [Unless a man gives himself entirely to the Cross, in a spirit of humility and self-abasement; unless he casts himself down to be trampled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-the-evangelist/unless-a-man-gives-himself-entirely-to-the-cross-in-a-spirit-of/) [Mark the Evangelist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-the-evangelist/) > [Much of the same sort of degraded and filthy talk can still be heard among the orc-minded; dreary and repetitive with hatred and contempt,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-r-tolkien-2/much-of-the-same-sort-of-degraded-and-filthy-talk-can-still-be-heard/) [J. R. R. Tolkien](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-r-tolkien-2/) > [Contempt for an assailant is best shown by bravery in action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thucydides/contempt-for-an-assailant-is-best-shown-by-bravery-in-action/) [Thucydides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thucydides/) > [Statuettes of drunken sailors, velvet pictures of island maidens, plastic seashell lamps made in Taiwan. What contempt the people who think up souvenirs have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-johnson/statuettes-of-drunken-sailors-velvet-pictures-of-island-maidens/) [Diane Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-johnson/) > [Every person of any rank in the left, from voter on up to cabinet member to elected official in the Democrat Party, has contempt.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/every-person-of-any-rank-in-the-left-from-voter-on-up-to-cabinet/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [Those with a gift for action, for their part, often express contempt for those whose gifts are more reflective. Men of action like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-ignatieff/those-with-a-gift-for-action-for-their-part-often-express-contempt/) [Michael Ignatieff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-ignatieff/) > [“opprobrious term, employed to impose contempt upon”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jabari-asim/opprobrious-term-employed-to-impose-contempt-upon/) [Jabari Asim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jabari-asim/) > [Heterosexual intercourse is the pure, formalized expression of contempt for women's bodies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-dworkin/heterosexual-intercourse-is-the-pure-formalized-expression-of/) [Andrea Dworkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-dworkin/) [Browse all 1,034 Contempt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To go on vegetating in cowardly dependence on physicians and machinations, after the meaning of life, the right to life, has been lost, that ought to prompt a profound contempt in society.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependence-on-physicians-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Contempt" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependence-on-physicians-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/957/friedrich-nietzsche-15_contempt_to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependen_705067.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/957/friedrich-nietzsche-15_contempt_to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependen_705067.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/957/friedrich-nietzsche-15_contempt_to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependen_705067.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To go on vegetating in cowardly dependence on physicians and machinations, after the meaning of life, the…” — Friedrich Nietzsche", "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": "Friedrich Nietzsche", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "To go on vegetating in cowardly...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependence-on-physicians-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/to-go-on-vegetating-in-cowardly-dependence-on-physicians-and/#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 } } ] } ```