Famous quotes

Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,158,808 quotes Who coined it · How we decide

English Italiano Polski עברית Français Português فارسی Español 中文 Русский Deutsch العربية हिन्दी 日本語 Ελληνικά Latina

Death

Love Friendship Happiness Hope Fear Courage Death Life Time War Peace Freedom Truth Wisdom Knowledge Science Art Music Nature Money Work Power God Beauty Laughter Family Success and failure Change Dreams Books and reading

“Inevitably linked with the moment of climax, there is a minor rupture suggestive of death; and conversely the idea of death may play a part in setting sensuality in motion.”
Georges Bataille (1897–1962) said by 1962 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's a reason that so many religions and wisdom traditions counsel meditating on death, and it's because there's almost nothing that delivers you so quickly to the preciousness of life than to think about death.”
Susan Cain (born 1968) first seen 2022 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Meraji, Shereen Marisol (interviewer), "How to be OK with your sadness and know when to embrace it", NPR, August 15, 2022.
“Death swallows death.”
Dejan Stojanovic (born 1959) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This time we must burn out all this Ukrainianism at the root. Together with their bastard literature, delusional history, cannibalisation of the “ancient Ukrainians”, fascist “aesthetics” and servility to the West. Burn them to death. No truce. Any ceasefire, and even more so an armistice, is certain death for our children and grandchildren.”
Dmitry Rogozin (born 1963) first seen 2024 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Posted on 27 June 2024 on his Telegram channel
“Of the men and women, the women were always the hardest of the band. They knew what the men knew but they also knew what the men would never know. They knew hard work and hunger, but they also knew childbirth and they knew the death of those children. They knew rape and the death of their men. They knew hatred and no one returns hate like a woman.”
Robert Olmstead (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To speak frankly, the family bond in the civilizee regime causes fathers to desire the death of their children and children to desire the death of their fathers.”
Charles Fourier (1772–1837) said by 1837 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Julio, in those libraries of death study the bodies of those bones—an assured evil; and learn from those characters that they form the abecedary of death!”
Hernando Domínguez Camargo (1606–1659) said by 1659 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: San Ignacio de Loyola (1666), Poema heroyco ('Heroic Poem of Saint Ignatius of Loyola'), Book IV, Canto
“the death blocking his path, all the things that made Rauf's death an absolute necessity”
Naguib Mahfouz (1911–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tears are sometimes an inappropriate response to death. When a life has been lived completely honestly, completely successfully, or just completely, the correct response to death's perfect punctuation mark is a smile.”
Julie Burchill (born 1959) first seen 2000 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Burchill in: Mark Water (2000) The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations. p. 111
“Even the death we feel approaching is not absolute but only incidental. At that moment we perform yet another act. The act is the form, the way in which death is faced.”
Aldo Capitini (1899–1968) said by 1968 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Saying 'Death to America' is easy. We need to express 'Death to America' with action. Saying it is easy.”
Hassan Rouhani (born 1948) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remark made on May 8, 2013, as quoted in About That New 'Moderate' Iranian Cabinet . . ., The Wall Street Journal, (August 7, 2013)
“Death hastens those who hasten death.”
Joan Slonczewski (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Painting responded to the plague-darkened vision of the human condition provoked by repeated exposure to sudden, inexplicable death. Tuscan painters reacted against Giotto's serenity, preferring sterner, hieratic portrayals of religious scenes and figures. The "Dance of Death" became a common theme for art; and several other macabre motifs entered the European repertory.”
William H. McNeill (1917–2016) first seen 1200 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Ch.4 "The Impact of the Mongol Empire on Shifting Disease Balances, 1200-1500".
“Just as what is in the jar, when broken, becomes one with the surroundings, death offers the opportunity to recognize the basic truth of all existence through non-discriminating one-pointedness. Like space, the essence of mind is unaffected by transition and death.”
Lama Ole Nydahl (1941–2026) said by 2026 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The answers from Genesis tell us that there was no death, bloodshed, disease, or suffering before sin. All these things are a consequence of sin. That's why Christians can't believe in millions of years for the fossil record - it's a horrible record of death, disease, and suffering, which couldn't have happened in the Garden before Adam fell.”
Ken Ham (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was thick with Prussian troopers, it was foul with German guns; Every tree that cast a shadow was a sheltering place for Huns. Death was guarding every roadway, death was watching every field, And behind each rise of terrain was a rapid-fire concealed; Uncle Sam's Marines had orders: "Drive the Boche from where they're hid. For the honor of Old Glory, take the woods!" And so they did.”
Edgar Guest (1881–1959) said by 1959 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I've never met Ai Weiwei but he's a colleague, an artist. In a very simple way he is heroically recording human existence. All he's done is to record death by administration, death by corruption, inefficiency. I don't even think he's pointing that sharp a finger, frankly.”
Anish Kapoor (born 1954) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At Orcus' portals hold their lair Wild Sorrow and avenging Care; And pale Diseases cluster there, And pleasureless Decay Foul Penury, and Fears that kill, And Hunger, counsellor of ill, A ghastly presence they: Suffering and Death the threshold keep, And with them Death's blood-brother, Sleep.”
John Conington (1825–1869) said by 1869 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Coupled with my hate-fueled eagerness to carry out my act of revenge, there was also an extreme sense of fear inside me. Part of me still didn’t want to do it. It will mean my death, and I have always been afraid of death.”
Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think all human beings are and should be fearful [of death, but realizing that death is a real tragedy.”
Ray Kurzweil (born 1948) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All my life as an artist I have asked myself: What pushes me continually to make sculpture? I have found the answer — at least the answer for myself. Art is an action against death. It is denial of death.”
Jacques Lipchitz (1891–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The idea that an afterlife had been invented to reassure people who couldn’t face the finality of death was no more plausible than the idea that the finality of death had been invented to reassure people who couldn’t face the nightmare of endless experience.”
Edward St. Aubyn (born 1960) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“What’s inside the box? Doubt is there. What’s another name for doubt? Death is another name for doubt. Death is what inflects the immortal certainty of the universe’s process with uncertainty.”
Adam Roberts (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She had expected to encounter death as a kind of existential depth and had been disappointed. But maybe there was a deeper truth there. Maybe profundity actually is a mode of disappointment. The rhythm of the climax—joy and despair, sex and pain—is of course the currency of life. Death can only ever be a sort of anticlimactic belatedness.”
Adam Roberts (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Q: At the time of death when the elements are changing rapidly and there is confusion and fear, what is the method to fix the mind in positivity? A: It depends on regular practice. It can't be done without prior practice of concentration. At the time of death, people lose control over the mind. Only a few keep awareness of God at that moment.”
Baba Hari Dass (1923–2018) first seen 2016 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: June 17, 2016
“Landscapes are about beauty and death. The only way you can define beauty.. ..is to know that death is hiding behind it. This is what haunts you when you’re doing a so-called landscape painting. -”
Per Kirkeby (1938–2018) first seen 1992 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: as quoted in Per Kirkeby: Paintings and Drawings, Helaine Posner, exhibition catalogue (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT List Visual Arts Center, 1992
“Not only is the sentence meted out to the young boys from impoverished background too harsh, but our fear is that it will set a bad precedent and serve to dilute the "rarest of rare" premise upon which a verdict of death penalty must hinge as per our criminal jurisprudence. While most countries are moving towards abolition of death penalty, this is a move in the reverse direction.”
Flavia Agnes (born 1947) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the verdict in the 2013 Mumbai gang rape, as quoted in "Opinion: Why I oppose death for rapists" Mumbai Mirror (5 April 2014)
“There are many thousands of poems about Death in the abstract. Philosophy about Death is a typical way of rendering it less real as an experience.”
John Birtwhistle (born 1946) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 'What can we learn from a dying poet' BMJ Supportive & Pallative Online Journal July 25 2014
“This whole place is death. No, that’s unfair—this place isn’t death, this place is indifference. This place is utterly neutral on the question of whether he lives or dies; it doesn’t care about his last name or where he went to school; it hasn’t even noticed him.”
Emily St. John Mandel (born 1979) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Death isn't empty like you say it is. Emptiness is life without freedom, Darrow. Emptiness is living chained by fear, fear of loss, fear of death.I say we break those chains.Break the chains of fear and you break the chains that bind us to the Golds, to the Society. Could you imagine it?”
Pierce Brown (born 1988) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All my people sing of are memories. And so I will remember this death. It will burden me as it does not burden my fellow students - I must not let that change. I must not become like them. I'll remember that every sin, every death, every sacrifice, is for freedom.”
Pierce Brown (born 1988) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“War is chaos. It always has been. But technology makes it worse. It changes the fear. At the Institute, I feared men. I feared what Titus and the Jackal could do to me. You see death coming there and can at least struggle against it. Here, you don't have such luxury. Modern war is fearing the air, the shadows, fearing the silence. Death will come and I won't even see it.”
Pierce Brown (born 1988) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To feed on Death is to become food for Death. To live by others' pain is to become a prey for pain. So has decreed the Omniwill. Know that and choose your course, Micayon.”
Mikha'il Na'ima (1889–1988) said by 1988 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I had no choice but to pray for his death. Typically enough, the one thing that never occurred to me was to kill him. During the course of my life I have wished innumerable times that I might meet with a violent death, but I have never once desired to kill anybody. I thought that in killing a dreaded adversary I might actually be bringing him happiness.”
Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The smile of one flower permeates those who live next to death more than the problem of life and death.”
Osamu Dazai (1909–1948) said by 1948 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Approximately 80 percent of protracted disease and premature death may be attributable to choices each one of us makes on a day-to-day basis. We're still eating ourselves into early graves. The vast majority of premature death and disability is preventable with a healthy enough diet and lifestyle. We can take personal responsibility for our own health.”
Michael Greger (born 1972) first seen 2025 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Michael Greger (with Gene Stone), How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease (2025 Tenth Anniversary Edition). From the Author's Note by Michael Greger, M.D., FACLM, at pages…
“Death is not a word to fear, any more than birth is. We change our state at birth, and come into the world of air and sense and myriad existence; we change our state at death and enter a region of—what?”
Oliver Lodge (1851–1940) said by 1940 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There is an old German proverb: "Death has no calendar," which taken in conjunction with our... "Death is no respecter of persons," strongly marks the folk conception... as of one who obeys no rule of time, or of place, or of age, or of sex, or of household...”
Karl Pearson (1857–1936) said by 1936 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“'If the Government gets hold of you they'll flog you to death; if the Buddhists get hold of you they'll starve you to death.'”
Arthur Waley (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Later, every form of religious belief seemed absurd to me, and death was as if disfigured. [...] Today I would never say: he has gone away. I’ve lost the sense of the crossing over: nothing goes up to heaven, we don’t move to another world, we don’t return, we aren’t reborn. We remain definitively immobile; death is the last point on the segment of life that has chanced to be ours.”
Elena Ferrante (born 1943) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Elena Ferrante: ‘My belief in some kind of beyond, acquired during childhood, has faded’", The Guardian, 10 February 2018.
“While Babylon represents the principality in bondage to death in time—and time is actually a form of that bondage—Jerusalem means the emancipation of human life in a society from the rule of death and breaks through time, transcends time, anticipates within time the abolition of time.”
William Stringfellow (1928–1985) said by 1985 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The death of the wildebeest herd didn’t change the bloody savagery she’d witnessed in the Roman Circus, but it put life and death in much clearer perspective. Nature wasn’t any nobler or gentler than human beings. It was just as deadly and just as cruel and just as savagely “unfair” to the weak... Maybe more so.”
Robert Asprin (1946–2008) said by 2008 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And most important, nothing was to be taken for granted in that place. In Death’s world, any covenant, no matter how mighty, can fall null—any spell, however cogent, can be abrogated. The only certain law in that place is Death itself.”
Michael Shea (1946–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A woman’s personal property, by marriage becomes absolutely her husband’s, which, at his death, he may give away from her; while at her death she has no such power, or any power, of disposing of his personal property.”
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898) said by 1898 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“...two things. First that Daberlohn's eyes seemed to say: 'Death and the Maiden, that is the two of us;' and second, that she still loved him as much as ever. And if he was Death, then everything was alright, then she did not have to kill herself like her ancestors.. .So she was in fact the living model for his theories, and she remembered...”
Charlotte Salomon (1917–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Year after year, our findings are consistent: States with stricter gun laws and lower rates of gun ownership have some of the lowest overall gun death rates in the county. Conversely, states with lax gun laws and higher rates of gun ownership have the nation’s highest gun death rates.”
Josh Sugarmann wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In combat, attention to detail is the barrier between life and death. We generally don't like death, so we pay attention to details. We also don't like failure. We don't like failing in our mission and we don't like failing the people who are relying on us. Ignoring the small stuff leads to both of those unenviable failures.”
Dan Crenshaw (born 1984) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Social conditions that spur large numbers of people into action are ignored in favor of a Hollywood version of history focusing on one conquering hero. Since a movement for social change is embodied in its leader, death of the leader means death of the movement.”
Patricia Hill Collins (born 1948) first seen 1787 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: We don't need another Dr. King" in Civil Rights Since 1787: A Reader on the Black Struggle (2000), p. 908
“Physical death, so much a preoccupation in the death world, is less mortifying than what is peddled as life.”
Alfredo M. Bonanno (1937–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the ideal universe the life and happiness of no being are contingent on the suffering and death of any other, and the fact that in this world of ours life and happiness have been and are to-day so commonly maintained by the infliction of misery and death by some beings on others is the most painful fact that ever entered an enlightened mind.”
J. Howard Moore (1862–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source