Thursday, June 18, 2009

Where death delights to help the living

I like this line (it came to me on a listserv; sorry, I wrote it down without the name of person who contributed it and I don’t believe they cited the author), unfortunately the Latin line looks to be a bit long to put over the door to our office building (would be cool though):

Hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae

This is the place where death delights to help the living
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:59 AM

    Doing a google search, I found the quote as a title of an Australian book on forensic medicine from 1970, and "Death Delights" as a novel by an Australian. I then found this site: http://www.abandonedamerica.org/hospitals/mayflower/mfshg2/wheredeathdelights.html

    which says the inscription in the morgue of an abandoned hospital reads

    "Let Conversation
    Cease. Let Laughter
    Flee. This is the Place
    Where Death Delights
    To Help the Living."

    and credits the quote to Giovanni Morgagni.

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  2. Dr. Richard Keller11:25 AM

    Thanks for the help.

    Ain't the Internet wonderful.

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  3. Anonymous5:24 PM

    I believe this phrase is engraved near the front door of the NYC Medical Examiners Office.

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