Famous quotes
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Death
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“Yes, so it is that knowledge itself must die in order to blossom forth again in death as will; the freedom of thought, belief, and conscience, these wonderful flowers of three centuries will sink back into the lap of mother earth so that a new freedom, the freedom will, will be nourished with its most noble juices.”
Max Stirner (1806–1856) said by 1856 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happy is the man who hath the hour of his death always before his eyes, and daily prepareth himself to die.”
Thomas à Kempis (1379–1471) said by 1471 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thales said there was no difference between life and death. "Why, then," said some one to him, "do not you die?" "Because," said he, "it does make no difference.”
Diogenes Laërtius wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Also quoted by: Tertullian
“Since Pharaoh’s bits were pushed into the jaws of kings, these dyings — patient or impatient, but dyings — have happened, by the hundreds of millions; they were all wasted. They taught us to kill others and to die ourselves, but never how to live. Who is “taught to live” by cruelty, suffering, stupidity, and that occupational disease of soldiers, death?”
Randall Jarrell (1914–1965) said by 1965 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Let no man fear to die: We love to sleep all, And death is but the sounder sleep.”
John Fletcher (1579–1625) said by 1625 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Death is terrible, but still more terrible is the feeling that you might live for ever and never die.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“After us they’ll fly in hot air balloons, coat styles will change, perhaps they’ll discover a sixth sense and cultivate it, but life will remain the same, a hard life full of secrets, but happy. And a thousand years from now man will still be sighing, “Oh! Life is so hard!” and will still, like now, be afraid of death and not want to die.”
Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) said by 1904 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now kiss, and think that there are really those, My own high-bosom'd beauty, who increase Vain gold, vain lore, and yet might choose our way! Through many years they toil; then on a day They die not, — for their life was death, — but cease; And round their narrow lips the mould falls close.”
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) said by 1882 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Okay, we will divide the first [of two questions] and let the second die a crib death.”
Tony Snow (1955–2008) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: White House Press Briefing (2006-07-06).
“Do not believe that others will die, not you.... I have wrestled with Thanatos knee to knee and I know how death is vanquished. Man's immortality is not to live forever; for that wish is born of fear. Each moment free from fear makes a man immortal.”
Mary Renault (1905–1983) said by 1983 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Do not be afraid, Leon, — I feel much better; but in case anything should happen to me I wanted to leave you something to remember me by. Perhaps I ought not to say it so soon after my husband's death; but as I might die, I wanted to tell you now that I loved you very, very much.”
Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916) said by 1916 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death.”
Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578) said by 1578 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro; Zen Buddhism and Its Influence on Japanese Culture (1970); p. 188
“But the bottom line is that I am still willing to die a painful public death, assuming my execution destroys the game of soccer (or - at the very least - convinces people to shut up about it).”
Chuck Klosterman (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A good death. Well, he thought, given that you had to die, why want a bad one?”
Iain Banks (1954–2013) said by 2013 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And indeed, if VSL is correct, black holes may have very different properties than we thought. Collapsing stars could have a totally different demise and die a rather eccentric death.”
João Magueijo (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“55 years ago today, we were beaten, tear gassed, and trampled by horses. I thought I saw death. I thought I was going to die. I don't know how I made it back, but I know we cannot rest. We cannot become weary. We must keep pushing and pulling and find a way to get in the way.”
John Lewis (1940–2020) first seen 2020 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Twitter, (7 March 2020)
“She died in my arms saying, "I don't want to die." That is what death is like. It doesn't matter what uniforms the soldiers are wearing. It doesn't matter how good the weapons are. I thought if everyone could see what I saw, we could never have war anymore. (p. 189)”
Jonathan Safran Foer (born 1977) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Such a splendid sunny day, and I have to go. But how many have to die on the battlefield in these days, how many young, promising lives... What does my death matter if by our acts thousands are warned and alerted. Among the student body there will certainly be a revolt.”
Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted by Else Gebel, in letter to Robert Scholl (November, 1946). Original German text.
“You mean that because I have no name I cannot die and that you cannot be held answerable for death even if you kill me?”
Brian O'Nolan (1911–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All our knowledge merely helps us to die a more painful death than the animals that know nothing. A day will come when science will turn upon its error and no longer hesitate to shorten our woes. A day will come when it will dare and act with certainty; when life, grown wiser, will depart silently at its hour, knowing that it has reached its term.”
Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) first seen 1919 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Our Eternity, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) said by 1616 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One of the big breakthroughs came when I started gardening. Nature is always the best teacher. It IS the universe. It IS life/death/rebirth. Trees fall, plants die, but all the time they’re also being reborn. I can’t help but notice the universe has provided all the conditions for life not just to survive but to thrive.”
Heather Brooke (born 1970) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The traditional spirit cannot die, being in its essence above death and change; but it can withdraw completely from the outward world […] We may see the 'beginning of the end', the preliminary sign of the moment when, according to the Hindu tradition, the whole of the sacred doctrine is to be shut in a conch-shell, from which it will once more come forth intact at the dawn of the new world.”
René Guénon (1886–1951) said by 1951 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Signac told me of his death this way: 'He Vincent van Gogh gave himself a bullet in the ribs; it passed through his body and lodged in his groin. He walked for two kilometers, losing all his blood, and went on to die in his inn'.”
Georges Seurat (1859–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was like a quilt, a handmade, patterned quilt laid out for this man to take his final steps across and then lie down and die on: a quilted deathbed. It struck me that the world, or chance, or maybe death itself if you can speak of such a thing, must have loved this man in some way to prepare for him such a richly textured fabric to gather and wrap him up in.”
Tom McCarthy (writer) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must live before we can attain to either intelligence or control at all. We must sleep if we are not to find ourselves, at death, helplessly strange to the new conditions. And we must die before we can hope to advance to a broader understanding.”
John William Dunne (1875–1949) said by 1949 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It may be impossible to prolong life, but it is frequently in our power to smooth the approaches of death; and they who die happily are certainly more to be envied than those who live otherwise.”
Joseph Ritson (1752–1803) said by 1803 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Fear of death pushed Seven Sleepers into a cave, Made Noah and his son build a ship; Nor did Moses and Adam think it pleasant to die Though they were promised paradise.”
Al-Ma'arri (973–1057) said by 1057 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Of the rest, nothing further is said, save that lovers love and live and, in due season, as all men must, they also die. And so with Ezail and Chavir who had been Sovaz and Oloru, Azhriaz and Chuz. For such was and is mortal life, mortal death. But for love, who can predict or measure, plot, ascribe, or declare an end. Love is one of the immortals.”
Tanith Lee (1947–2015) said by 2015 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The “have-nots” see agonizing death as an equalizing force. Their pompous attitude is unfair and their only advantage over us. Recently, I’ve come to resent them, to resent karma. ...I understood when Zombie died. I understood when Monica died. What I can’t understand is why I have to die at such a young age. It just doesn’t make sense. The only question I have is … WHY ME?”
Michael Scott Gallegos first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Sound Of Chalk Blending into Paper" (Sep 1, 2014)
“Flesh has this awful habit of decaying. It seems that the more we live, the more we die. I disapprove of the situation, of course. But does anyone listen to me? Mayhap we should get the Queen to outlaw death. That would do it… She has outlawed everything else.”
L. K. Samuels (born 1951) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And now brothers, I will ask you a terrible question, and God knows I ask it also of myself. Is the truth beyond all truths, beyond the stars, just this: that to live without him is the real death, that to die with him the only life?”
Frederick Buechner (1926–2022) said by 2022 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Things of real worth, such as the mental life of the ant or the crab, fill psychological and scientific literature; but such a thing as death, which involves the whole human race more intimately than anything else possibly can - since all must die - is regarded as hardly worthy of serious discussion!”
Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934) said by 1934 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God is nowhere to be found, yet there is still so much light! Light that dazzles and maddens; crisp, ruthless light. Space echoes like an immense tomb, yet the stars still burn. Why does the sun take so long to die? Or the moon retain such fidelity to the Earth? Where is the new darkness? The greatest of all unknowings? Is death itself shy of us?”
“When people ask me why I don’t eat meat or any other animal products, I say because they are unhealthy and they are the product of a violent and inhumane industry. Chickens, cows, and pigs in factory farms spend their whole lives in filthy, cramped conditions only to die a prolonged and painful death.”
Casey Affleck (born 1975) first seen 2013 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a PETA video (6 February 2013), reported in "Casey Affleck’s ‘Go Vegan’ PSA", in peta2.com.
“Language death is like no other form of disappearance. When people die, they leave signs of their presence in the world, in the form of their dwelling places, burial mounds, and artefacts – in a word, their archaeology. But spoken language leaves no archaeology. When a language dies, which has never been recorded, it is as if it has never been.”
David Crystal (born 1941) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If it is treated well, the patient hardly asks to die. If he is cared for with affection, with love, without pain, he will not ask for a good death. (p. 119)”
Umberto Veronesi (1925–2016) said by 2016 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I have no desire to die, but I count my death as nothing.”
Epicharmus of Kos (540–435 BC) said by 435 BC at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Frg. 230 K.-A. = B 11 DK (tr. T. Habinek, 2012)
“A good many men will be killed, however, as long as no man can prove to me that a man can die more than once, I am not inclined to regard death for the individual as a misfortune.”
Alfred von Waldersee (1832–1904) first seen 1866 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Waldersee in November, 1877, as quoted by Gordon Alexander Craig, "Germany, 1866-1945" (Oxford University Press, 1978) p.133
“Celebrating our culture is very important to me. But one thing I cannot support is the senseless killing of animals in bullfights. From the moment the bull enters the ring, he’s destined to die. Outnumbered, frightened, even drugged or injured, his death will be slow and painful. … Tradition is no excuse for cruelty.”
Patricia de Leon (actress) first seen 2010 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Patricia De León: Bullfighting", video for PETA (September 2010).
“Thoughts and dreams don’t die. Belief in freedom and justice does not perish with imprisonment, torture or even death and tyranny do not prevail over freedom, even when they rely on the power of the state. Sitting here in the prison, I am deeply humbled by the honor you have bestowed on me and I will continue my efforts until we achieve peace, tolerance for a plurality of views, and human rights.”
Narges Mohammadi (born 1972) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In Muslim majority states in northern Nigeria, speaking out against Islam is blasphemy and it is punishable by death or imprisonment. Criticizing Islam is dangerous not just because the state could prosecute, execute or jail the critic, but one could be killed by Islamic mobs. In fact the chances are that one is more likely to die in the hands of the later than the former.”
“And when the sunshine showed Her face I felt like I was ready to die. Went lookin' for a place to hide, A hole I could crawl inside. Long lines, Whiskey bottles, And the same old song. I smell death in the air And I know it won't be long.”
“Even if death were to fall upon you today like lightning, you must be ready to die without sadness and regret, without any residue of clinging for what is left behind. Remaining in the recognition of the absolute view, you should leave this life like an eagle soaring up into the blue sky....”
Dilgo Khyentse (1910–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’s Last Teaching By Matthieu Ricard, Tricycle Magazine (Fall 1997)
“There was only one common factor in Gandhi's life and mine. We were both the cause of each other's death. He wanted to live at any cost for his principles and I was prepared to die at all costs for mine.”
Nathuram Godse (1910–1949) said by 1949 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There aren't many plays in which a character says "Has the doctor looked at my sample yet?" He knows he is old, that soon he will die. The Henry plays are the great England plays: you get a sense of the country from top to bottom, from monarch to prostitute, from Westminster to Cheapside. But they are also about death. The plays are immortal and I am not. So I hitch a lift on the back.”
Ian McKellen (born 1939) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I’d always been fascinated by death, which sounds so morbid. Especially being a woman trying to make music, I think there’s a sense that you’re never young enough, or your career is going to end soon. So there’s that element of ‘I’m going to die soon.’ Maybe not physically, but I’m going to run out of time very soon. It’s always on my mind. I have to do things now.”
Mitski (born 1990) first seen 2014 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the album title Bury Me At Makeout Creek in / EXCLUSIVE SONG PREMIERE AND INTERVIEW: ‘TOWNIE,’ MITSKI” in Interview (16 Sept 2014)
“Minutes stretch into hours, an eternity that drags like death. Each second that passes is another second my mind tumbles in guilt What if they’re captured? What if they die? I can’t have more people perish for this. I can’t have more blood stain my hands.”
Tomi Adeyemi (born 1993) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Death-Cast never calls me to tell me I'm gonna die. I wish they would.”
Adam Silvera (born 1990) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Myths die hard. We humans define ourselves by the ideological teams we join. We are liberals or conservatives, Christians or atheists, Yankee fans or Red Sox fans. We filter facts to conform to our group’s ideology and then defend that ideology to the death. Only a truly momentous event can make us change teams…”
Carlos Lacámara (born 1958) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source