20+ Best Dorothea Dix Quotes From The American Mental Health Advocate

Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Dec 12, 2023 By Rajnandini Roychoudhury
Originally Published on Feb 23, 2021
Edited by Jacob Fitzbright
Black and white portrait of Dorothea Dix
?
Age: 0-99
Read time: 4.7 Min

Dorothea Dix, the American Advocate, activist, and reformer, redefined the perception of mental health in the United States during the American Civil War.

Dorothea Dix is best known for her role as the superintendent of female nurses; she helped the mentally ill by working towards reform in the treatment of mentally ill patients. This impeccable woman, teacher, and nurse tirelessly helped the mentally ill and challenged regressive mental health notions.

Dorothea Dix was born in Maine in 1802 and died in July 1887. Dorothea Dix helped in establishing over 30 mental health care hospitals and several asylums across the state United States.

She also planned tours to check and place ethical regulations upon mental health hospitals for mentally ill people. She is an inspiration for many and, over the years, has contributed a lot. Her resilient life, perspective, and way of working are some of the main reasons why many women look up to her.

If you like what you read here, then it might also be worth your time checking out doctor quotes and social work quotes.

Famous Quotes By Dorothea Dix

Here are some famous Dorothea Dix quotes that are like a book of wisdom, inspiring, encouraging, and will help bring out a new perspective of looking at things! Make sure you can " look back on days spent in usefulness, in doing good to those around us!"

1. "The duties of a teacher are neither few nor small, but they elevate the mind and give energy to the character."

- Dorothea Dix.

2. "What greater bliss than to look back on days spent in usefulness, in doing good to those around us."

- Dorothea Dix.

3. "I come as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane men and women; of beings sunk to a condition from which the unconcerned world would start with real horror."

- Dorothea Dix.

4. "I have learned to live each day as it comes and not to borrow trouble by dreading tomorrow."

- Dorothea Dix.

5. "I must study alone, as I am condemned to do everything alone, I believe, in this life."

- Dorothea Dix.

6. "In order to do good, a man must be good, and he will not be good except he have instruction by counsel and by example."

- Dorothea Dix.

7. "A man usually values that most for which he has labored; he uses that most frugally which he has toiled hour by hour and day by day to acquire."

- Dorothea Dix.

8. "Be of good cheer, for sadness cannot heal the national wounds."

- Dorothea Dix.

9. "In proportion as my own discomfort has increased, my conviction of the necessity to search into the wants of the friendless and afflicted has deepened."

- Dorothea Dix.

10. "The rose is the flower and handmaiden of love - the lily, her fair associate, is the emblem of beauty and purity."

- Dorothea Dix.

Dorothea Dix Quotes About Prisons

A blue book of constitution

These prison reform quotes are intriguing and enlightening. They are so new and invigorating that you would definitely like to sit and reflect on it. These are quotes that can really bring a spirit of change in society.

11. "You never saw a very busy person who was unhappy."

- Dorothea Dix.

12. "If County jails must be resorted to for security against the dangerous propensities of madmen, let such use of prison-rooms and dungeons be but temporary."

- Dorothea Dix.

13. "Rules must be established and enforced, and, as numbers are increased in prisons, the necessity for vigilance increases. These rules, let it be understood, maybe kindly while firmly enforced. I would never suffer any exhibition of ill-temper or an arbitrary exercise of authority."

- Dorothea Dix.

14. "Society during the last hundred years has been alternately perplexed... the two great questions: how shall the criminal and pauper be disposed of in order to reduce crime... and, on the other, to diminish pauperism and restore the pauper to useful citizenship?"

- Dorothea Dix.

15. "But the truth is the highest consideration."

- Dorothea Dix.

Mental Health Reform Quotes

Dorothea Dix's speech and perception are something to grab on. Here are some Dorothea Dix quotes, asylum movement quotes, and hospital quotes to help you make your life an inspirational one.

16. "I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity. I come to place before the Legislature of Massachusetts the condition of the miserable, the desolate, the outcast."

- Dorothea Dix.

17. "I proceed, gentlemen, to call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined."

- Dorothea Dix.

18. "Moderate employment, moderate exercise, as much freedom as is consistent with the safety of the patient, and as little apparent anxious watchfulness with cheerful society should be sought."

- Dorothea Dix.

19. "With care and patience, people may accomplish things which, to an indolent person, would appear impossible."

- Dorothea Dix.

20. "The great benefactors of individuals and of communities are the enlightened educators: the wise-teaching, mental and moral instructors and exemplars of our times."

- Dorothea Dix.

21. "Your minds may now be likened to a garden, which will if neglected, yield only weeds and thistles; but, if cultivated, will produce the most beautiful flowers and the most delicious fruits."

- Dorothea Dix.

22. "Of all the calamities to which humanity is subject, none is so dreadful as insanity... All experience shows that insanity seasonably treated is as certainly curable as a cold or a fever."

- Dorothea Dix.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Dorothea Dix quotes then why not take a look at funny nurse quotes and [Elizabeth Blackwell quotes].

We Want Your Photos!
We Want Your Photos!

We Want Your Photos!

Do you have a photo you are happy to share that would improve this article?
Email your photos

More for You

See All

Written by Rajnandini Roychoudhury

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

Rajnandini Roychoudhury picture

Rajnandini RoychoudhuryBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Master of Arts specializing in English

With a Master of Arts in English, Rajnandini has pursued her passion for the arts and has become an experienced content writer. She has worked with companies such as Writer's Zone and has had her writing skills recognized by publications such as The Telegraph. Rajnandini is also trilingual and enjoys various hobbies such as music, movies, travel, philanthropy, writing her blog, and reading classic British literature. 

Read full bio >