Shadows of the Workhouse (Call the Midwife)

by Jennifer Worth

Nobody could come up with an answer to the question of how to deter the idle without penalising the defenceless.

The knowledge of rejection, of being unwanted, is more terrible to live with than anything else, and a rejected child will usually never get over it.

Life turns on little things. The momentous events in history can leave us untouched, while small events may shape our destinies.

Health is the greatest of God’s gifts, but we take it for granted; yet it hangs on a thread as fine as a spider’s web and the tiniest thing can make it snap, leaving the strongest of us helpless in an instant.

If there is one thing that a dying person needs more than relief from pain, it is love.

I disagree wholly with the notion that there is no point in staying with an unconscious patient because he or she does not know you are there. I am perfectly certain, through years of experience and observation, that unconsciousness, as we define it, is not a state of unknowing. Rather, it is a state of knowing and understanding on a different level that is beyond our immediate experience.

The young can be very lovely, but the faces of the old can be truly beautiful. Every line and fold, every contour and wrinkle of Sister Monica Joan’s fine white skin revealed her character,

strength, courage, humanity and irrepressible humour.

“Bah! Suffragettes. I’ve no time for suffragettes. They made the biggest mistake in history. They went for equality. They should

have gone for power!”

‘When you are young, you go where you wish, but when you are old, others will take you where you do not wish to go.’

For we all grow old,

and very few of us retain our health and strength to the last. Most of us become helpless and completely dependent on others, whether we like it or not. Old age is a time when we learn the virtue of humility.”

“You know the secret of life, my dear, because you know how to love.”