"I find the medicine worse than the malady"
About this Quote
The specific intent is not simply to reject help, but to indict the kind of help on offer: interventions that preserve authority more than they relieve pain. In Fletcher's world, "medicine" can mean punishment, forced marriage, social correction, religious discipline - any institutional fix that arrives with a sermon and leaves a bruise. The phrasing is coolly empirical ("I find"), as if the speaker has run the experiment and is reporting results. That little posture of reason matters: it lets the character sound sane while accusing the system of sanctioned cruelty.
Subtextually, the line flatters the audience's cynicism. It invites them to recognize a pattern: the supposed cure often demands confession, compliance, or sacrifice disproportionate to the original problem. It's also a playwright's wink about drama itself. Tragedy and comedy both thrive on misapplied solutions - the well-meant scheme that escalates chaos - and Fletcher is bottling that mechanism in a sentence.
In context, early modern medicine was invasive and precarious; treatment could kill. The quote borrows that real fear to sharpen a broader skepticism: when power insists it's acting "for your own good", you should check the dosage.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Fletcher, John. (2026, January 15). I find the medicine worse than the malady. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-find-the-medicine-worse-than-the-malady-79672/
Chicago Style
Fletcher, John. "I find the medicine worse than the malady." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-find-the-medicine-worse-than-the-malady-79672/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I find the medicine worse than the malady." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-find-the-medicine-worse-than-the-malady-79672/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.







