I am a sick man.. I am a spiteful man. I am an unpleasant man. I think my liver is diseased. However, I don't know beans about my disease, and I am not sure what is bothering me. I don't treat it and never have, though I respect medicine and doctors. Besides, I am extremely superstitious, let's say sufficiently so to respect medicine. (I am educated enough not to be superstitious, but I am.) No, I refuse to treat it out of spite. You probably will not understand that. Well, but I understand it. Of course I can't explain to you just whom I am annoying in this case by my spite. I am perfectly well aware that I cannot "get even" with the doctors by not consulting them. I know better than anyone that I thereby injure only myself and no one else. But still, if I don't treat it, its is out of spite. My liver is bad, well then-- let it get even worse! . Fyodor Dostoyevsky
About This Quote

Hippocrates said, "I am a sick man, but I am a spiteful man, and I think my liver is diseased. However, I don't know beans about my disease, and I am not sure what is bothering me. I don't treat it and never have, though I respect medicine and doctors. Besides, I am extremely superstitious, let's say sufficiently so to respect medicine.

(I am educated enough not to be superstitious, but I am.) No, I refuse to treat it out of spite." The ideas in this quote are based on the ancient Greek idea that one should not ignore serious diseases because they will only get worse. Instead of ignoring them or treating them lightly or with disdainful indifference ("out of spite"), one should take the time necessary to properly diagnose the problem and seek treatment for it in order to get relief from the illness in order to return to full health.

Source: Notes From Underground, White Nights, The Dream Of A Ridiculous Man, And Selections From The House Of The Dead

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