"I still when I wake up hit the ground running; and having an illness, I'm only one of hundreds of thousands of people that live with an illness, and I'm just in awe of the bravery and dignity of the people I see at the hospital"
About this Quote
Then she undercuts the celebrity exception. "I'm only one of hundreds of thousands" is a deliberate demotion, a refusal to let her name elevate her suffering above anyone else's. That move matters in a culture that loves the suffering-famous arc: the brave star, the redemption profile, the illness as plotline. Duffy shifts the camera away from herself and toward the hospital community, where bravery is less a hashtag than a sustained practice.
The subtext lives in her choice of words: "awe", "bravery", "dignity". She isn't romanticizing pain; she's praising comportment under pressure. Dignity is the quiet virtue people reach for when control has been stripped away. By locating dignity in others, she avoids self-congratulation and points to a moral economy inside hospitals: patients and staff constantly exchanging courage, often without language for it.
Contextually, it reads like someone who has spent enough time in medical spaces to stop mythologizing her own struggle. The line is a reminder that illness is both intensely personal and overwhelmingly common, and that the most compelling stories in that setting are rarely about exceptional people - they're about ordinary endurance.
Quote Details
| Topic | Health |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Duffy, Karen. (2026, January 15). I still when I wake up hit the ground running; and having an illness, I'm only one of hundreds of thousands of people that live with an illness, and I'm just in awe of the bravery and dignity of the people I see at the hospital. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-still-when-i-wake-up-hit-the-ground-running-and-155211/
Chicago Style
Duffy, Karen. "I still when I wake up hit the ground running; and having an illness, I'm only one of hundreds of thousands of people that live with an illness, and I'm just in awe of the bravery and dignity of the people I see at the hospital." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-still-when-i-wake-up-hit-the-ground-running-and-155211/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I still when I wake up hit the ground running; and having an illness, I'm only one of hundreds of thousands of people that live with an illness, and I'm just in awe of the bravery and dignity of the people I see at the hospital." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-still-when-i-wake-up-hit-the-ground-running-and-155211/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.








