Daily Inspiration Quote by Jack Kevorkian

Kevorkian’s line is engineered like a moral judo throw: he admits the supposedly damning motive first, then forces you to notice how flimsy the accusation is. “I did this for me” reads as provocation, but it’s also a claim about agency. In the assisted-suicide wars of the 1990s, every side tried to monopolize compassion. Kevorkian refuses the comforting script of the selfless crusader and instead insists that principle can be personal without being petty.

The subtext is defensive and defiant at once. He’s answering the charge that he was driven by ego, notoriety, maybe even a taste for transgression. By framing his advocacy as “a right,” he shifts the debate from his character to the architecture of autonomy: if bodily self-determination matters, it has to include the most taboo decision. The repetition of “for me” is doing double duty. It’s a confession of stake and a warning: if the law can commandeer the dying body, it can commandeer yours too.

The closing question, “does that sound selfish?” is a trap door. It invites you to hear “selfish” the way the culture often deploys it: as a shaming device to keep people compliant, especially around death. Kevorkian’s intent isn’t to win sympathy; it’s to puncture sanctimony. He’s arguing that self-interest and moral seriousness aren’t opposites - and that insisting otherwise is how society keeps difficult rights safely theoretical.