Cathy > Cathy's Quotes

“I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson, Essays of Robert Louis Stevenson

“. . . when it comes down to it, that’s what life is all about: showing up for the people you love, again and again, until you can’t show up anymore.”
― Rebecca Walker, Baby Love: Choosing Motherhood After a Lifetime of Ambivalence

“He studied copies or recountings of John Mandeville’s Travels (ca. 1360), Marco Polo’s Il Milione (Travels of Marco Polo, ca. 1298), and Ptolemy’s Guide to Drawing a Map of the World—the Geography—for the first time.”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“The sovereigns’ chief accountant took pity on him, seeing him penniless, and arranged food and shelter”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“Pending the sovereigns’ final review, Talavera authorized a small sum dispensed to Colón in reimbursement of his expenses at court. Cristóbal’s utter disappointment was transparent to all. His boastfulness had made many enemies at court, and they mocked his ideas and failure.”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“As they consolidated their conquest, the sovereigns summoned Colón to Málaga. The Talavera commission’s conclusion did not surprise them but, as King João, they were reluctant to dismiss him entirely. Castile’s opportunities for overseas expansion were limited and, if they dismissed him, Colón might sail for another sovereign, including Henry VII of England, Charles VIII of France, or even João.”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“Cristóvão perceived the assembled advisers and nobility were mocking him, that João’s warmth to him had dissipated, and that João would never reconsider his plan. Cristóbal stole out of Lisbon to return”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“revealed by the prophets and confirmed by the evidence I have seen.” As he spoke, Isabel was captivated by his apparent sincerity on this point. She also perceived a haughty scorn and disrespect for the Talavera commission. She reflected that, like an adventurer, Colón boasted of his experience, relied on unlearned sources such as Mandeville and Marco Polo, pandered as to Jerusalem, and was transparent in his lust for nobility and wealth. Yet she found”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“Cristóbal and Fray Pérez started visiting the plazas of Palos, Moguer, and Huelva, seeking enlistment to achieve crews for the three ships combined of about ninety men. Cristóbal explained to everyone he met”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“Their skin was olive—like the heathens of the Canary Islands, much lighter than the Guineans—and many had painted themselves with red, black, or white designs. Memories of the scant clothing of Canarians and Guineans flickered through his thoughts, and Cristóbal was satisfied that the distance of the naked peoples from his crews was sufficient for safety—so long as the crews remained alert. He overheard the people’s whispers and guessed that their language, as the Guineans’, would lack words common to the languages he knew. He grasped”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“Cristóbal was certain he had arrived at islands offshore of the Indies but believed his inability to decipher the precise location was due to the Indians having different names for places or little knowledge of geography. He briefly succumbed to a frustration vividly echoing that he had felt when unable to make Bishop Talavera’s commissions understand. He reflected that these peoples were clever, but that the inability to converse with them rendered confirming the proximity of the Grand Khan’s court as difficult as convincing the Castilian nobility that the Ocean Sea could be sailed.”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“Cristóbal recognized that word of his arrival and objective had preceded him. News had spread through Marien’s villages that the pale beings were not Caribes, their vessels were not beasts, and they could be met”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“The gold was not his own greatest glory. Cristóbal now believed the Lord had chosen his very name—Cristóbal—to designate him as the one chosen to bring Christ to the heathens across the Ocean Sea. He signed the memorandum with a mystical signature he would use thereafter, ending with the Greco-Latin form of Cristóbal, reminding that he was the “Christ bearer.”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“Anthropologists disagree whether Taínos produced and drank alcohol prior to the arrival of Europeans. I have assumed they did.”
― Andrew Rowen, Encounters Unforeseen: 1492 Retold

“unfolding medical tragedy that was to change the rest”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“The newborns were delivered in rapid succession, with used instruments and dressings. The doctors and medical students often didn’t even wipe their hands between procedures, much less wash them. After the women”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“The crafty old fox is planning to use me for something disingenuous. He impressed himself with how he was beginning to understand the underhanded workings of academic medicine.”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“By the fall of 1845, more than 300 autopsies of women who had died of puerperal fever had been performed, most by Ignác and some by Kolletschka. Ignác’s diligence and productivity had been extraordinary, especially since he did all this before his regular work days began. A few common threads were becoming clearly apparent.”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“The injustices of our society are glaringly on display in our maternity wards.”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“I am quite amazed that you are spending time like this with a dying woman. I am very impressed, young man. But how can we stop these deaths?”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“I am sad to conclude that there is only one solution to our problem,” responded Klein. “For now, until these young people assimilate to the cultural expectations of our Viennese medical community, we must severely curtail their admission to study at the Allgemeine”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“And why does this only happen in the First Division?” asked Skoda. “That’s quite simple. As you know, midwives are not allowed to dissect actual cadavers or perform autopsies. That’s been the policy for a very long time, I believe. They are taught pelvic anatomy using only phantoms, those authentic-appearing, painted, wax models. So their hands don’t become contaminated with cadaveric”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“So when he came to Vienna as chief, he taught his students to perform pelvic exams on the women only when absolutely needed and then to do them only with the utmost gentleness, preferably without the use of any instruments.”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“frequent and thorough physical exams of the women in labor. That would take precedence over any other consideration! This is after all, as Professor Klein has said repeatedly, a teaching hospital. A teaching hospital, first and foremost, and there was to be no relaxation of Klein’s directives.” “Were there other differences in their practices?” “Well, another big one was how they followed hospital and university policies,” added”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“through hands contaminated with cadaveric particles.”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“thoroughly scrubbing them with the most powerful disinfectant solution available and for as long as it took to expunge all traces of the smell of cadavers. He now set about single-mindedly researching what would be the most effective antiseptic.38”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“sign on the wall just outside the entrance to the First Division, where antiseptic-solution-filled basins had been placed on two tables: “ALLE ARTZE MÜSSEN IHRE HANDE MIT CHLORKALK WASSEN” (“All medical practitioners must wash hands with chlorine.”) Hand brushes for scrubbing and towels were placed next to the basins. Ignác stationed himself there, arms folded over his chest, awaiting the arrival of the students from the morgue.”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“Yes,” he continued, “we have been unwittingly contributing to the deaths of these unfortunate women. I myself feel unspeakable guilt. But shame must be replaced by scientific solutions to prevent future occurrences. So,”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“The antiseptic scrubbing protocol was introduced in the middle of May 1847.49 And then the women stopped dying. Only on occasional days in the last two weeks of May did a single patient succumb. The abrupt drop in the mortality rate was plain to see, and practically miraculous.”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands

“giving credit to Klein, I am afraid I won’t have his support for much longer.” “All right, all right. I understand why you feel a need to be deferential to Klein. But I also see how detached he is and how terribly hard you are working. It seems like you are”
― Andrew Schafer, Unclean Hands