When freedom from want and freedom from fear are achieved, man's remains will be in rigor mortis.

Fischer’s epigram plays on the famous political ideal of “freedom from want” and “freedom from fear,” suggesting that a life entirely purged of need and anxiety would be indistinguishable from death. “Rigor mortis” (the post-mortem stiffening of the body) sharpens the paradox: striving, uncertainty, and even discomfort are presented as inseparable from being alive and human. The line can be read as a skeptical counterpoint to utopian promises—warning that perfect security may entail stagnation, loss of vitality, or the end of aspiration. It also reflects a physician’s sensibility: the ultimate absence of want and fear is not a social achievement but a biological condition—death.