Suzanne Massie Quotations

France, like every other Western country except the United States, has long accepted the principle that comprehensive health care is the right of every citizen. No Frenchman need ever fear that catastrophic illness will wipe him out financially. How long, do you suppose, will it take us, in the United States, to catch up?

Russians understand the rhythm of despair.

When pain has been constant, it has its own momentum and laws. The vital thing is to break its ascendancy over the mind.

To be a friend takes time, and time is what nobody has. Therefore, real friends are rare.

Evil is near. Sometimes late at night the air grows strongly clammy and cold around me. I feel it brushing me. All that the Devil asks is acquiescence not struggle, not conflict. Acquiescence.

When one's own problems are unsolvable and all best efforts frustrated, it is lifesaving to listen to other people's problems.

All that the Devil asks is acquiescence ...

Pain heightens every sense. More powerfully than any drug, it intensifies colors, sounds, sight, feelings. Pain is like a glass wall. It is impossible to climb it, but you must, and, somehow, you do. Then there is an explosion of brilliance and the world is more apparent in its complexity and beauty.

Accept, accept that I have won, whispers the Devil. You can see for yourself that life is unjust, unfair, that suffering is ordinary. Who is stronger? I am, of course. Just despair, my dear, despair. Only tell me that I am strong, that Evil rules.