DEATH QUOTES XVI

quotations about death

The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.

PUBLILIUS SYRUS

Maxims


To will the obligatory in relation to death is to fall in line with the major immutable cycles of Nature, especially human nature, and to understand that (whether or not there is a purpose or meaning to life or a life of the spirit beyond the life of the body) no one, absolutely no one, escapes being finite and mortal. And knowing this, and then to accept it, to will it, and not to be in an unnecessary state of angst or rebellion or terror over it.

EDWIN SHNEIDMAN

A Commonsense Book of Death


Are not the thoughts of the dying often turned towards the practical, painful, obscure, visceral aspect, towards the "seamy side" of death which is, as it happens, the side that death actually presents to them and forces them to feel, and which far more closely resembles a crushing burden, a difficulty in breathing, a destroying thirst, than the abstract idea to which we are accustomed to give the name of Death?

MARCEL PROUST

Swann's Way


There is a strange sense of uplifting--a kind of new-found feeling of benediction--that arises in the hearts of those who lay themselves open to learn the lessons that death will teach. How many have borne witness to this, to a fulness and richness which has entered their life after the departure (it almost seems because of the departure) of those they love!

ARTHUR FOLEY WINNINGTON-INGRAM

"The Silence of the Grave", Thoughts on Love and Death


Death was everywhere,
In the air
And in the sounds
Coming off the mounds
Of Bolton's Ridge.
Death's anchorage.
When you rolled a smoke
Or told a joke,
It was in the laughter
And drinking water
It approached the beach
As strings of cutters,
Dropped in the sea and lay around us.

PJ HARVEY

"All and Everyone", Let England Shake


Death is the veil which those who live call life;
They sleep, and it is lifted.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

Prometheus Unbound


Death ... doesn't take her eyes off us for a minute, so much so that even those who are not yet due to die feel her gaze pursuing them constantly.

JOSé SARAMAGO

Death with Interruptions


Death happens but once, yet we feel it every moment of our lives; it is worse to dread it than to suffer it.

JEAN DE LA BRUYÈRE

"Of Mankind", Les Caractères


Death is release, if you've lived all right.

EDWARD ALBEE

Seascape


Scientists have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is life after death -- though they say it's virtually impossible to get decent Chinese food.

DAVID LETTERMAN

Late Show with David Letterman, October 13, 2014


That's life. Still the best alternative to death.

CODY MCFADYEN

The Face of Death


To those who view the voyage of life from the port of departure the bark that has accomplished any considerable distance appears already in close approach to the farther shore.

AMBROSE BIERCE

"The Death of Halpin Frayser"


Death is the only god that comes when you call.

ROGER ZELAZNY

"24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai"


Life is hard, but death is even harder.

PETER KREEFT

Between Heaven and Hell


My soul defense against the natural horror which death inspires, is to love beyond it.

MADAME SWETCHINE

"Thoughts", The Writings of Madame Swetchine


You feel sorry for yourself. You think you're missing something and you don't know what it is. You're lonely inside your life. You have a job and a family and a fully executed will, already, at your age, because the whole point is to die prepared, die legal, with all the papers signed. Die liquid, so they can convert to cash.

DON DELILLO

Underworld


Leap through the Mystery of death as the circus-rider leaps through the papered hoop ... find Life ambling along beneath us on the Other Side?

SIDNEY LANIER

Songs Against Death


Death makes angels of us all
& gives us wings
where we had shoulders
smooth as raven's
claws

JIM MORRISON

An American Prayer


When I read obituaries I always note the age of the deceased. Automatically I relate this figure to my own age. Four years to go, I think. Nine more years. Two years and I'm dead. The power of numbers is never more evident than when we use them to speculate on the time of our dying.

DON DELILLO

White Noise


So when the friends we love the best lie in their churchyard bed, we must not cry too bitterly over the happy dead; because, for our dear Saviour's sake, our sins are all forgiven; and Christians only fall asleep to wake again in Heaven.

CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER

"Child's Funeral"