"You're not sick you're just in love"
About this Quote
Berlin’s intent sits inside Tin Pan Alley’s genius for making private emotions socially legible. Early 20th-century popular music had to travel through sheet music, parlors, theaters, radio: feelings needed to be shareable, not esoteric. So love becomes a condition with symptoms, a little scandalous but safely framed as temporary and normal. The subtext is a soft permission slip, especially for a culture that prized composure: if you’re acting weird, there’s a respectable reason. You can be undone without being defective.
There’s also a canny commercial instinct here. By medicalizing love, Berlin gives performers an easy comic angle and listeners an immediate self-recognition. It’s the kind of line you repeat to friends, half-mocking, half-confessing - a miniature narrative that turns vulnerability into charm. In a century obsessed with health, nerves, and "modern" stress, Berlin offers the most marketable cure: let the symptoms bloom.
Quote Details
| Topic | Romantic |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Berlin, Irving. (2026, January 16). You're not sick you're just in love. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/youre-not-sick-youre-just-in-love-112816/
Chicago Style
Berlin, Irving. "You're not sick you're just in love." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/youre-not-sick-youre-just-in-love-112816/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"You're not sick you're just in love." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/youre-not-sick-youre-just-in-love-112816/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.








