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“Then to the lip of this poor earthen Urn I lean'd, the Secret of my Life to learn: And Lip to Lip it murmur'd — "While you live Drink! — for, once dead, you never shall return.”
Omar Khayyám (1048–1131) said by 1131 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: XXXV (1889)
“Ah, fill the Cup: — what boots it to repeat How Time is slipping underneath our Feet: Unborn and dead , Why fret about them if be sweet!”
Omar Khayyám (1048–1131) said by 1131 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: XXXVII (1859)
“Ah, but my Computations, People say, Reduced the Year to better reckoning? — Nay 'Twas only striking from the Calendar Unborn To-morrow, and dead Yesterday.”
Omar Khayyám (1048–1131) said by 1131 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: LVII (1889)
“When I am dead, with wine my body lave, For obit chant a bacchanalian stave, And if you need me at the day of doom, Beneath the tavern threshold seek my grave”
Omar Khayyám (1048–1131) said by 1131 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There were many seas. The sea roared like a tiger. The sea whispered in your ear like a friend telling you secrets. The sea clinked like small change in a pocket. The sea thundered like avalanches. The sea hissed like sandpaper working on wood. The sea sounded like someone vomiting. The sea was dead silent.”
Yann Martel (born 1963) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“She said that it is the responsibility of the living to justify the sacrifices of the dead. Otherwise their deaths have no meaning.”
Stephen R. Donaldson (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We created perestroika to lead the country out of a dead end. In order for the state and economy to flourish, we needed good relations not just with our neighbors, but with the entire world. We didn't need the Iron Curtain. We wanted to get rid of the wall of mistrust between East and West - and all other walls, for that matter, between states, groups of people and individuals.”
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931–2022) first seen 2019 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in an interview with Der Spiegel (8 November 2019)
“An isolated human in a simple society is usually a dead human...”
Peter Farb (1929–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Hopewell fused elements of the Adena, the Archaic, and other Woodland patterns of life. Thus, it cannot technically be identified as a culture. ...Rather, the Hopewell people were an amalgam of many societies whose customs varied greatly, but who were bound together by... a cult of the dead and a trade bond... a network of trade linked widely separated areas of the continent.”
Peter Farb (1929–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The movement known as the Ghost Dance first appeared around 1870... soon after the Union Pacific Railroad completed its first transcontinental run. ...that event inspired the vision of the prophet Wodziwob, who declared that a big train was coming to bring back dead ancestors... a cataclysm would swallow up all the whites and leave behind their goods for his followers.”
Peter Farb (1929–1980) said by 1980 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People often ask me what it’s like to live with bodyguards. The short answer is that it’s better than being dead.”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali (born 1969) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“They were told that Cobdenism was dead. ... Cobdenism was never more alive throughout the world than it was to-day. ... To-day the ideas of Cobden were in revolt against selfish nationalism. The need for the breaking down of trade restrictions, which took various forms, was universally recognized even by those who were unable to throw off those shackles.”
Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden (1864–1937) first seen 1932 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech to the Dunford House (Cobden Memorial) Association at the Hotel Victoria (7 July 1932), quoted in The Times (8 July 1932), p. 9
“I'm not mad that you got mad when I got mad when you said I should go drop dead.”
Jonathan Larson (1960–1996) said by 1996 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Reacher hated turning back. He liked to press on, dead ahead, whatever. Everyone's life needed an organizing principle, and relentless forward motion was Reacher's.”
Lee Child (born 1954) first seen 2008 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Nothing to Lose, Ch. 2 (2008).
“That we’ve broken their statues, that we’ve driven them out of their temples, doesn’t mean at all that the gods are dead. O land of Ionia, they’re still in love with you, their souls still keep your memory.”
Constantine P. Cavafy (1863–1933) said by 1933 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Poems by C. P. Cavafy as translated by John Cavafy (2003)
“In our new age of terrifying, lethal gadgets, which supplanted so swiftly the old one, the first great aggressive war, if it should come, will be launched by suicidal little madmen pressing an electronic button. Such a war will not last long and none will ever follow it. There will be no conquerors and no conquests, but only the charred bones of the dead on an uninhabited planet. (Preface)”
William L. Shirer (1904–1993) said by 1993 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't know if you're alive or dead. Can you on earth be sought, Or only when the sunsets fade Be mourned serenely in my thought?”
Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) first seen 1915 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: I Don't Know If You're Alive Or Dead" (1915)
“Are the last days near, perhaps? I have forgotten your lessons, prattlers and false prophets, but you haven't forgotten me. As the future ripens in the past, so the past rots in the future — a terrible festival of dead leaves.”
Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For some the wind can fleshly blow, for some the sunlight fade at ease, but we, made partners in our dread, hear but the grating of the keys, and heavy-booted soldiers' tread. As if for early mass, we rose and each day walked the wilderness, trudging through silent street and square, to congregate, less live than dead.”
Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That was a time when only the dead could smile, delivered from their wars, and the sign, the soul, of Leningrad dangled outside its prison-house...”
Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“At dawn they came and took you away. You were my dead: I walked behind. In the dark room children cried, the holy candle gasped for air.”
Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This woman is sick to her marrow-bone, this woman is utterly alone, with husband dead, with son away in jail. Pray for me. Pray.”
Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) said by 1966 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Thank God for the tsunami, and thank God that two thousand dead Swedes are fertilizing the ground over there [in Asia]. How many of these two thousand, do you suppose, were fags and dykes? This is how the Lord deals with His enemies. And the Lord has got some enemies. And Sweden heads the list. You filthy Swedes. You filthy Swedes!”
Fred Phelps (1929–2014) said by 2014 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“God hates fags! God hates America! Thank God for dead soldiers! You're going to hell!”
Fred Phelps (1929–2014) first seen 2006 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Bill O'Reilly: Satan's SpinDoctor." WBC Video News. Westboro Baptist Church. July 27, 2006.
“So often we need a whole lifetime in order to change our life, we think a great deal, weigh things up and vacillate, then we go back to the beginning, we think and think, we displace ourselves on the tracks of time with a circular movement, like those clouds of dust, dead leaves, debris, that have no strength for anything more, better by far that we should live in a land of hurricanes.”
José Saramago (1922–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In order to protect the physical hygiene and mental health of the living, we usually bury the dead.”
José Saramago (1922–2010) said by 2010 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The destruction of the atom [the split of it, in modern physics] seemed to me to be the same as the destruction of the world.. ..science to me appeared to be dead: its most important basis was only a lunacy, a mistake perpetrated by learned men.. ..who blindly mistook one object for another.”
Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) said by 1944 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas day When the New York Times said God is dead And the war's begun.”
Elton John (born 1947) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I'm the most translated writer in the world, behind Lenin, Tolstoy, Gorki and Jules Verne. And they're all dead...”
Mickey Spillane (1918–2006) said by 2006 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I don't speak Latin. It's a dead language. It killed the Romans, and now it's killing us.”
Kent Hovind (born 1953) first seen 2015 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Dr. Kent Hovind - Newly Discovered Dinosaur Species Proof of Evolution?, Youtube (October 14 2015)
“The truth is that dinosaurs have always lived with man. They were called dragons for most of human history and man killed most of them. In 1841, a new name "dinosaur" was given to them. It is quite possible that a few are still alive. There have been thousands of sightings of creatures, such as the Loch Ness Monster or the dead dinosaur that washed up on the beach in California in 1925.”
Kent Hovind (born 1953) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For the women who mourn their dead in the secret night, For the children taught to keep quiet, the old children, The children spat-on at school. For the wrecked laboratory, The gutted house, the dunged picture, the pissed-in well The naked corpse of Knowledge flung in the square And no man lifting a hand and no man speaking.”
Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943) said by 1943 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“So go out and live real good and I promise you'll get beat up real bad. But, in a little while after you're dead, you'll be rotted away anyway. It's not gonna matter if you have a few scars. It will matter if you didn't live.”
Rich Mullins (1955–1997) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lufkin, Texas (July 19, 1997)
“Stalin was an example of creativity, humanism and an edifying example of peace and heroism! [...] Everything that he did, he did at the service of the people. Our father Stalin is dead, but when remembering his example, our affection towards him will make our arms grow strong for the building of a great tomorrow, to assure a future in memory of his magnificent example.”
Salvador Allende (1908–1973) first seen 1953 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Baquedano Theater, Santiago, Chile (1953)
“Thereafter, when he himself was dead, he imagined that his poems would be published in some mysterious way, and the nation would read them for comfort in adversity, as it had read the poems of other poets before him; it was his highest wish that his poems could help those as unfortunate as himself to have patience to endure.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The correct understanding of life, let me tell you, is love despite everything. Love despite everything, that is the aim and object of life. Love, you see, is the only thing that pays in the long run, even though it might seem a dead loss in the short run.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh, it's so good to be dead!”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As a rule, the only way that anyone could escape from the castle of Bremerholm was through a dead-end opening: namely, the grave.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I say, and have always said, and will always say: the fish that does not sing throughout the whole world is a dead fish.”
Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) said by 1998 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And she waited again at the front door with it open, poised between the maw of the dead and loveless house and the outer dark like a frail thief.”
Cormac McCarthy (1933–2023) said by 2023 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“the old place of the Quoyles, half ruined, isolated, the walls and doors of it pumiced by stony lives of dead generations. The aunt felt a hot pang. Nothing would drive them out a second time.”
Annie Proulx (born 1935) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Lend ear while things incredible we bring about And Spacemen dead and deathless yet we sing about:— And some were weak and wan, and some were strong enough, And some got home, but damn it took them long enough!”
R. A. Lafferty (1914–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A newspaper man has got to know when to keep his mouth and his mind shut. You might end up dead." "Isn't that the usual fate of men, Harry?”
R. A. Lafferty (1914–2002) said by 2002 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Tradition and heritage are all dead people's baggage. Stop carrying it. Move forward.”
Doug Stanhope (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[on Keynesian economic theory as applied to private sector independent contracting] "Ask Milton Friedman's dead Jew corpse what he thinks about the current economic crisis, and he will tell you... You better strengthen up your shit-pussy, baby!”
Doug Stanhope (born 1967) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The dead are difficult because they´ve never known the people I´m involved with today”
Max Frisch (1911–1991) said by 1991 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If a writer doesn’t generate hostility, he is dead.”
V. S. Naipaul (1932–2018) first seen 2018 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted from , "VS Naipaul: A controversial author who crafted his lines and insults", Indian Express (12 August 2018)
“Oh! Chintzy, Chintzy cheeriness, Half dead and half alive!”
John Betjeman (1906–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“And I'd like to say this to [Sir James Goldsmith] ... who has got nothing to be smug about, and I would like to say that 1,500 votes is a derisory total. We have shown tonight that the Referendum Party is dead in the water, and Sir James can get off back to Mexico knowing your attempt to buy the British political system has failed.”
David Mellor (born 1949) first seen 1997 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in Brian Cathcart Were you still up for Portillo? (Penguin Books, 1997), pp. 63-4
“It is preferable not to travel with a dead man.”
Henri Michaux (1899–1984) first seen 1938 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: La Nuit des Bulgares in Plume (1938) (Used as introductory line in Jim Jarmusch's film "Dead Man".)