Dissection Quotes

“No man should marry until he has studied anatomy and dissected at least one woman.”
― Honoré de Balzac

“The point is that no matter what you choose to do with your body when you die, it won't, ultimately, be very appealing. If you are inclined to donate yourself to science, you should not let images of dissection or dismemberment put you off. They are no more or less gruesome, in my opinion, than ordinary decay or the sewing shut of your jaws via your nostrils for a funeral viewing.”
― Mary Roach, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

“Everything teeters between pathos and bathos: here you are, violating society's most fundamental taboos and yet formaldehyde is a powerful appetite stimulant, so you also crave a burrito.”
― Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air

“What if I dissected my feelings, pulled them apart and brutalized them so that he would know they were true? Is this enough? I'd ask. How about this? They would explode and drip over everything like bodily fluids and finally he'd be forced to look away.”
― Ling Ma, Bliss Montage

“He could quite quickly become detached from the nuances of common human emotion. Particularly if he was engaged in some aspect of a scientific problem or research. His work excluded any consideration for the feelings of those around him. And he rarely excused himself or justified his behavior. It was as if he was compelled to focus all his energy on one subject and was unaware that others did not follow his obsession.”
― Theresa Breslin, The Medici Seal

“The Maestro spoke again. "When we are not, at what point do we become?"

I could not reply. For I had grasped no shape of his thoughts. I understood neither what he said nor his intent behind it.”
― Theresa Breslin, The Medici Seal

“No, Carolyn, you can’t petition PETA to get a waiver from dissecting the frog. The frog’s already dead. It donated itself to science. Don’t let its sacrifice be in vain. -Brandon”
― Abigail Roux, Caught Running

“Dissection ... teaches us that the body of man is made up of certain kinds of material, so differing from each other in optical and other physical characters and so built up together as to give the body certain structural features. Chemical examination further teaches us that these kinds of material are composed of various chemical substances, a large number of which have this characteristic that they possess a considerable amount of potential energy capable of being set free, rendered actual, by oxidation or some other chemical change. Thus the body as a whole may, from a chemical point of view, be considered as a mass of various chemical substances, representing altogether a considerable capital of potential energy.”
― Michael Foster, A Text Book of Physiology

“As her body empties, I feel more and more hollow. I think I must offer her some explanation, but when I look to her face, there is clear and perfect water swirling from her open mouth, a question in a language I cannot comprehend.”
― Christine Montross, Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab

“Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:—
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.”
― William Wordsworth

“All definitions are a part of the intellectual dissection and compartmentalization of control.”
― Bryant McGill, Simple Reminders: Inspiration for Living Your Best Life

“A rival politician countered that he too supported the dissection of those who were sucking the public teat dry. He proposed starting with the royal family.”
― Sam Kean, The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science