Morrie: In His Own Words

Morrie: In His Own Words is a short work of nonfiction by Morris S. "Morrie" Schwartz, a longtime sociology professor at Brandeis University who was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) in 1994. Written as the illness progressively disabled him, the book gathers Schwartz's reflections on how to live meaningfully while dying. It was first published in 1996 under the title Letting Go: Morrie's Reflections on Living While Dying, and later reissued as Morrie: In His Own Words after Mitch Albom's memoir Tuesdays with Morrie brought Schwartz's story to a wide audience.

The book is organized around Schwartz's practical and emotional guidance for people facing chronic or terminal illness, and for those who care for them. It addresses subjects such as living with physical limitations, grieving one's losses, and reviewing the past, combining hard-won personal experience with the outlook of a teacher who saw his own dying as a final opportunity to instruct others. Throughout, Schwartz emphasizes maintaining loving relationships and emotional honesty in the face of decline.

Schwartz completed the manuscript before his death on November 4, 1995, and the work was published posthumously. Its central themes of acceptance, presence, and dignity in dying resonated strongly alongside Tuesdays with Morrie, and the book endures as Schwartz's own testament, offering his reflections directly rather than through a student's recollection.