That bodies should be lent us, while they can afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or doing good to our fellow creatures, is a kind and benevolent act of God - when they become unfit for these purposes and afford us pain instead of pleasure-instead of an aid, become an encumbrance and answer none of the intentions for which they were given, it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided by which we may get rid of them. Death is that way. Benjamin Franklin
About This Quote

The idea that it is "kind and benevolent" for human bodies to be lent to us while they can afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or doing good to our fellow creatures, is a kind and benevolent act of God. The problem is that they become unfit for these purposes and afford us pain instead of pleasure. Instead of being an aid, they become an encumbrance and answer none of the intentions for which they were given. Thus, they should be equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided by which we may get rid of them.

Death is that way. This quote from C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity reminds us that many people have been killed because their bodies were not as useful as the person who wanted them back.

Some Similar Quotes
  1. Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings. - Unknown
  2. My dear, Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will... - Charles Bukowski
  3. If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled? - Jodi Picoult
  4. Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect. - J.k. Rowling
  5. Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone. - Mitch Albom
More Quotes By Benjamin Franklin
  1. Many people die at twenty five and aren't buried until they are seventy five.
  2. He that can have patience can have what he will.
  3. A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned
  4. Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.
  5. Well done is better than well said.
Related Topics