The Enemies of Reason (August 2007)
“Well, my interpretation is no more valid than anyone else’s, but I would say in terms of medicine, people want to take control of their own lives, and ironically they seem to think that they are taking control of their lives more by using so-called complementary or alternative medicines than by using orthodox medicine. In other words, they think it’s a statement of originality and individuality. To you and me it seems self-evidently ridiculous, this homeopathic medicine. It is so preposterous, and yet some people I know and respect insist on believing it.”
Fry on the reason for the popularity of alternative medicine. "Last Chance to Think" Interview (2010) by Kylie Sturgess in Skeptical Inquirer. Vol 34 (1)
2000s
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Stephen Fry 93
English comedian, actor, writer, presenter, and activist 1957Related quotes
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Entertainment Weekly interview http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20006490,00.html (4 January 2007)
Context: I would say laughter is the best medicine. But it’s more than that. It’s an entire regime of antibiotics and steroids. Laughter brings the swelling down on our national psyche, and then applies an antibiotic cream... Obviously, it’s a challenge to make light of the darkness but, um, it’s better than crying about it.
Room 101, Season 6 Episode 10
2000s
“Consciousness, to be sure, is more effective than packets of medicine.”
Her final comment on her experience of getting out of the epidemic, quoted in "Japan" (1916-20)
“What else is the help of medicine than love?”
Paracelsus - Doctor of our Time (1992)
“So-called alternative medicine either hasn’t been tested or it has failed its tests.”
The Enemies of Reason (August 2007)
Context: If any remedy is tested under controlled scientific conditions and proved to be effective, it will cease to be alternative and will simply become medicine. So-called alternative medicine either hasn’t been tested or it has failed its tests.
there are always sufficiently gullible patients
Foreword to Snake Oil and Other Preoccupations by John Diamond, Vintage, 2001.
Forewords