Theories that diseases are caused by mental states and can be cured by will power, are always an index of how much is not understood about the physical terrain of a disease.
Susan SontagCompassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers.
Susan SontagIn every society, the definitions of sanity and madness are arbitrary - are, in the largest sense, political.
Susan Sontag... liberal intellectualstend to have a classical theory of politics, in which the state has a monopoly of power; hoping thatthose in positions of authority may prove to be enlightened men, wielding power justly, they are natural, if cautious, allies of the "establishment.
Susan Sontag