Jack Kevorkian quotes

Jack Kevorkian was an American pathologist, commonly known as "Dr. Death" for advocating physician-assisted suicide. His controversial views and actions sparked national debates on euthanasia and end-of-life rights. He became a central figure in discussions about medical ethics and the right to die. Here are 72 of his quotes:

I will admit, like Socrates and Aristotle and Plato and some other philosophers, that there are instances where the death penalty would seem appropriate. (Jack Kevorkian)
When history looks back, it will prove what I'll die knowing. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
There is nothing anyone can do anyway. The public has no power. The government knows I'm not a criminal. The parole board knows I'm not a criminal. The judge knows I'm not a criminal. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
The Supreme Court of the United States... has validated the Nazi method of execution in... concentration camps, starving them to death! View quote
Jack Kevorkian
When your conscience says law is immoral, don't follow it. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
My religion centers in different areas than what's considered conventional religion. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
All the big powers...they've silenced me. So much for free speech and choice on this fundamental human right. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
As a medical doctor, it is my duty to evaluate the situation with as much data as I can gather and as much expertise as I have and as much experience as I have to determine whether or not the wish of the patient is medically justified. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
I gambled and I lost. I failed in securing my options for this choice for myself, but I succeeded in verifying the Dark Age is still with us. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
This is not a trial. This is a lynching. There is no law. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal. What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma. (Jack Kevorkian)
You're basing your laws and your whole outlook on natural life on mythology. It won't work. That's why you have all these problems in the world. Name them: India, Pakistan, Ireland. Name them-all these problems. They're all religious problems. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
It's the boredom that kills you. You read until you're tired of that. You do crossword puzzles until you're tired of that. This is torture. This is mental torture. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
The American people are sheep. They're comfortable, rich, working. It's like the Romans, they're happy with bread and their spectator sports. The Super Bowl means more to them than any right. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
Dying is not a crime. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
This could never be a crime in any society which deems itself enlightened. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
We need some honesty and sincerity instead of corrupt government in Washington. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
My intent was to carry out my duty as a doctor, to end their suffering. Unfortunately, that entailed, in their cases, ending of the life. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
Anytime you interfere with a natural process, you're playing God. God determines what happens naturally. That means when a person's ill, he shouldn't go to a doctor because he's asking for interference with God's will. But of course, patients can't think that way. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
Five to six thousand people die every year waiting for organs, but nobody cares. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
The patient's autonomy always, always should be respected, even if it is absolutely contrary - the decision is contrary to best medical advice and what the physician wants. (Jack Kevorkian)
When you transplant a heart from a baboon into a baby as we did, and you say the body of that baby is sacred, does that profane heart from the baboon become sacred when you place it in the body? Or when you take out a gallbladder and throw it in the garbage, is that a sacred gallbladder in the garbage? Or as soon as it's out of the body it loses its sanctity? You see the silliness of our mythology? Children ask the questions I'm just asking now. Trouble is, children get slapped for asking questions like that because they have no defense. But you can't slap me. I can ask the question. It's a logical question. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
You're going to watch a person suffer in agony while somebody's debating? View quote
Jack Kevorkian
This is a medical service. It always was. View quote
Jack Kevorkian
If you don't have liberty and self-determination, you've got nothing, that's what this is what this country is built on. And this is the ultimate self-determination, when you determine how and when you're going to die when you're suffering. View quote
Jack Kevorkian