Hunger and thirst are the most powerful promptings of nature. But we will suffer both hunger and thirst to save our life.
Human flesh shrinks quite instinctively from the knife.
But even the keen blade of the surgeon is welcome if it staves off death. Maecenas, the friend of scholars and poets, was sorely afflicted toward the end of his life. He writhed in pain night and day. He meant to say that even the most wretched form of life was better than the loss of it. When our life is jeopardized, all other worries retreat to the background.