Pain was something we were expected to endure. But I doubt very much if you would be entirely happy today if a doctor threw a towel in your face and jumped on you with a knife.
Meaning of the quote
The quote suggests that while we are often expected to just accept pain, it would not make us happy if a doctor treated us in a way that caused us harm, such as by covering our face with a towel and attacking us with a knife. It highlights the idea that we should not simply endure pain, but should expect to be treated with care and respect, even when receiving medical treatment.
About Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl was a renowned British author known for his popular children’s books, short stories, and his career as a wartime fighter ace. His works have sold over 300 million copies worldwide, and he is considered one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th century.
More quotes from Roald Dahl
Pain was something we were expected to endure. But I doubt very much if you would be entirely happy today if a doctor threw a towel in your face and jumped on you with a knife.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
I shot down some German planes and I got shot down myself, crashing in a burst of flames and crawling out, getting rescued by brave soldiers.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
The writer has to force himself to work. He has to make his own hours and if he doesn’t go to his desk at all there is nobody to scold him.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
A writer of fiction lives in fear. Each new day demands new ideas and he can never be sure whether he is going to come up with them or not.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
The Bristol Channel was always my guide, and I was always able to draw an imaginary line from my bed to our house over in Wales. It was a great comfort.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
To shipbrokers, coal was black gold.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
Pear Drops were exciting because they had a dangerous taste. All of us were warned against eating them, and the result was that we ate them more than ever.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
When I walked to school in the mornings I would start out alone but would pick up four other boys along the way. We would set out together after school across the village green.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
All Norwegian children learn to swim when they are very young because if you can’t swim it is difficult to find a place to bathe.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
Nowadays you can go anywhere in the world in a few hours, and nothing is fabulous any more.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
I am only 8 years old, I told myself. No little boy of 8 has ever murdered anyone. It’s not possible.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
I began to realize how simple life could be if one had a regular routine to follow with fixed hours, a fixed salary, and very little original thinking to do.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
Nobody gets a nervous breakdown or a heart attack from selling kerosene to gentle country folk from the back of a tanker in Somerset.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
Prayers were held in Assembly Hall. We all perched in rows on wooden benches while teachers sat up on the platform in armchairs, facing us.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
All through my school life I was appalled by the fact that masters and senior boys were allowed quite literally to wound other boys, and sometimes very severely.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
Though my father was Norwegian, he always wrote his diaries in perfect English.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
My father was a Norwegian who came from a small town near Oslo. He broke his arm at the elbow when he was 14, and they amputated it.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
When I was 2, we moved into an imposing country mansion 8 miles west of Cardiff, Wales.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
I do have a blurred memory of sitting on the stairs and trying over and over again to tie one of my shoelaces, but that is all that comes back to me of school itself.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
Did they preach one thing and practice another, these men of God?
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
Two hours of writing fiction leaves this writer completely drained. For those two hours he has been in a different place with totally different people.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
An autobiography is a book a person writes about his own life and it is usually full of all sorts of boring details.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
I was a fighter pilot, flying Hurricanes all round the Mediterranean. I flew in the Western Desert of Libya, in Greece, in Syria, in Iraq and in Egypt.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
Unless you have been to boarding-school when you are very young, it is absolutely impossible to appreciate the delights of living at home.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)
A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom.
British writer and poet (1916-1990)