--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There were usually not nearly as many…" description: "\"“There were usually not nearly as many sick people inside the hospital as Yossarian saw outside the hospital, and there were generally fewer people ins..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bc/joseph-heller-601_dead-man_there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-si_696298.jpg" --- # There were usually not nearly as many sick people inside… ![“There were usually not nearly as many sick people inside the hospital as Yossarian saw outside the hospital, and there were generally fewer people inside the hospital who were seriously sick. There was a much lower death rate inside the hospital than outside the hospital, and a much healthier…” quote by Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bc/joseph-heller-601_dead-man_there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-si_696298.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bc/joseph-heller-601_dead-man_there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-si_696298.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bc/joseph-heller-601_dead-man_there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-si_696298.jpg) > ““There were usually not nearly as many sick people inside the hospital as Yossarian saw outside the hospital, and there were generally fewer people inside the hospital who were seriously sick. There was a much lower death rate inside the hospital than outside the hospital, and a much healthier death rate. Few people died unnecessarily. People knew a lot more about dying inside the hospital and made a much neater job of it. They couldn’t dominate Death inside the hospital, but they certainly made her behave. They had taught her manners. They couldn’t keep Death out, but while she was there she had to act like a lady. People gave up the ghost with delicacy and taste inside the hospital. There was none of that crude, ugly ostentation about dying that was so common outside of the hospital. They did not blow-up in mid-air like Kraft or the dead man in Yossarian’s tent, or freeze to death in the blazing summertime the way Snowden had frozen to death after spilling his secret to Yossarian in the back of the plane. “I’m cold,” Snowden had whimpered. “I’m cold.” “There, there,” Yossarian had tried to comfort him. “There, there.” They didn’t take it on the lam weirdly inside a cloud the way Clevinger had done. They didn’t explode into blood and clotted matter. They didn’t drown or get struck by lightning, mangled by machinery or crushed in landslides. They didn’t get shot to death in hold-ups, strangled to death in rapes, stabbed to death in saloons, blugeoned to death with axes by parents or children, or die summarily by some other act of God. Nobody choked to death. People bled to death like gentlemen in an operating room or expired without comment in an oxygen tent. There was none of that tricky now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t business so much in vogue outside the hospital, none of that now-I-am-and-now-I-ain’t. There were no famines or floods. Children didn’t suffocate in cradles or iceboxes or fall under trucks. No one was beaten to death. People didn’t stick their heads into ovens with the gas on, jump in front of subway trains or come plummeting like dead weights out of hotel windows with a whoosh!, accelerating at the rate of thirty-two feet per second to land with a hideous plop! on the sidewalk and die disgustingly there in public like an alpaca sack full of hairy strawberry ice cream, bleeding, pink toes awry.”” [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Inside hospitals death is orderly, controlled, and almost genteel compared to the chaotic, violent deaths outside, highlighting how context shapes our experience of mortality. **In simple terms:** Hospitals make dying neat; outside is chaotic. Key Takeaway Recognize how environment influences the dignity of death. Themes mortality control chaos context humor Mood darkly humorous reflective critical Type literary satirical philosophical When to use this quote - war zones - civilian life - medical settings - disaster response - personal loss Key Concepts existentialism satire social critique Questions to Reflect On - How does setting affect our perception of death? - Can dignity be preserved in chaotic circumstances? A Different Perspective The portrayal is exaggerated for satirical effect and may not reflect real medical practice. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Dead man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dead-man/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Disease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disease/) [Dying inside](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dying-inside/) [Health](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/health/) [Hospital](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hospital/) [Ice cream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ice-cream/) [Operating room](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/operating-room/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ## Related quotes > [“There were usually not nearly as many sick people inside the hospital as Yossarian saw outside the hospital, and there were generally fewer people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-sick-people-inside-the-hospital-2/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [After he made up his mind to spend the rest of the war in the hospital, Yossarian wrote letters to everyone he knew saying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/after-he-made-up-his-mind-to-spend-the-rest-of-the-war-in-the/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [“Their names were Gus and Wes and they had succeeded in elevating medicine to an exact science. 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They lived next to each other in separate cages for several months…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christiaan-barnard/i-had-bought-two-male-chimps-from-a-primate-colony-in-holland-they/) [Christiaan Barnard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christiaan-barnard/) > [“Miracles happen quietly every day—in an operating room, on a stormy sea, in the sudden appearance of a roadside stranger. They are rarely tallied.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/miracles-happen-quietly-every-day-in-an-operating-room-on-a-stormy/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [You can’t bake a cake without getting the kitchen messy. 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'You’re going to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/i-m-cold-snowden-said-softly-i-m-cold-you-re-going-to-be-all-right/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/the-enemy-is-anybody-who-s-going-to-get-you-killed-no-matter-which/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [“They think that they’re smart and that the rest of us are dumb.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/they-think-that-they-re-smart-and-that-the-rest-of-us-are-dumb/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/there-was-only-one-catch-and-that-was-catch-22-which-specified-that-a/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [“Captain Flume was obsessed with the idea that Chief White Halfoat would tiptoe up to his cot one night when he was sound asleep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/captain-flume-was-obsessed-with-the-idea-that-chief-white-halfoat/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [“Depreciating motels, junked automobiles, and quick-food joints grow like amber waves of grain.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/depreciating-motels-junked-automobiles-and-quick-food-joints-grow/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [“That was where he wanted to be if he had to be there at all, instead of hung out there in front like some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/that-was-where-he-wanted-to-be-if-he-had-to-be-there-at-all-instead/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [I had examined myself pretty thoroughly and discovered that I was unfit for military service.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/i-had-examined-myself-pretty-thoroughly-and-discovered-that-i-was/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [“Yossarian was moved by such intense pity for his poverty that he wanted to smash his pale. sad, sickly face with his fist and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/yossarian-was-moved-by-such-intense-pity-for-his-poverty-that-he/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [You have deep-seated survival anxieties. And you don't like bigots, bullies, snobs or hypocrites. Subconsciously there are many people you hate." "Consciously, sir, consciously,"…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/you-have-deep-seated-survival-anxieties-and-you-don-t-like-bigots/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [“His specialty was alfalfa, and he made a good thing out of not growing any. The government paid him well for every bushel of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/his-specialty-was-alfalfa-and-he-made-a-good-thing-out-of-not-growing/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [Every writer I know has trouble writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/every-writer-i-know-has-trouble-writing/) [Joseph Heller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/) > [“No such private nights of ecstasy or hushed-up drinking and sex orgies ever occurred. 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People knew a lot more about dying inside the hospital and made a much neater job of it. They couldn’t dominate Death inside the hospital, but they certainly made her behave. They had taught her manners. They couldn’t keep Death out, but while she was there she had to act like a lady. People gave up the ghost with delicacy and taste inside the hospital. There was none of that crude, ugly ostentation about dying that was so common outside of the hospital. They did not blow-up in mid-air like Kraft or the dead man in Yossarian’s tent, or freeze to death in the blazing summertime the way Snowden had frozen to death after spilling his secret to Yossarian in the back of the plane. “I’m cold,” Snowden had whimpered. “I’m cold.” “There, there,” Yossarian had tried to comfort him. “There, there.” They didn’t take it on the lam weirdly inside a cloud the way Clevinger had done. They didn’t explode into blood and clotted matter. They didn’t drown or get struck by lightning, mangled by machinery or crushed in landslides. They didn’t get shot to death in hold-ups, strangled to death in rapes, stabbed to death in saloons, blugeoned to death with axes by parents or children, or die summarily by some other act of God. Nobody choked to death. People bled to death like gentlemen in an operating room or expired without comment in an oxygen tent. There was none of that tricky now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t business so much in vogue outside the hospital, none of that now-I-am-and-now-I-ain’t. There were no famines or floods. Children didn’t suffocate in cradles or iceboxes or fall under trucks. No one was beaten to death. People didn’t stick their heads into ovens with the gas on, jump in front of subway trains or come plummeting like dead weights out of hotel windows with a whoosh!, accelerating at the rate of thirty-two feet per second to land with a hideous plop! on the sidewalk and die disgustingly there in public like an alpaca sack full of hairy strawberry ice cream, bleeding, pink toes awry.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joseph Heller" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-sick-people-inside-the-hospital/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dead man" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-sick-people-inside-the-hospital/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bc/joseph-heller-601_dead-man_there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-si_696298.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bc/joseph-heller-601_dead-man_there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-si_696298.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7bc/joseph-heller-601_dead-man_there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-si_696298.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There were usually not nearly as many sick people inside the hospital as Yossarian saw outside the hospital…” — Joseph Heller", "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": "Joseph Heller", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-heller/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“There were usually not nearly as...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-sick-people-inside-the-hospital/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-heller/there-were-usually-not-nearly-as-many-sick-people-inside-the-hospital/#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 } } ] } ```