Quotes about life and death
656 quotes from 337 people
We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking.
Albert Camus1913–1960An Absurd ReasoningIf we have our own why in life, we shall get along with almost any how.
Friedrich Nietzsche1844–1900Twilight of the Idols (1889), “Maxims and Arrows,” § 1.12Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.
Sophocles496–406 BCElectra, Lines 1007–1008 (Bartlett’s, 9th ed., 1892)We must go through life so inconspicuously that Fate does not notice us.
W. Somerset Maugham1874–1965The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Ch. 38, p. 129Everywhere in life, the true question is not what we gain, but what we do.
Thomas Carlyle1795–1881“Goethe’s Helena”, Foreign Review (1828)Can it really be that for us existence means exile, and nothingness, home?
ECEmil Cioran1911–1995On the Heights of Despair (1934)Is Death important? No. Everything that happens before Death is what counts.
Ray Bradbury1920–2012Something Wicked This Way Comes (1962), Chapter 54 (p. 289)We are here on Earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different.
Kurt Vonnegut1922–2007A Man Without a Country (2005)I know you’ve come to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man.
Che Guevara1928–1967Reported last words, to his executioner, La Higuera, Bolivia (9 October 1967)Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.
Rabindranath Tagore1861–1941The Gardener (1915), 45Death and taxes and childbirth! There’s never any convenient time for any of them!
Margaret Mitchell1900–1949Gone with the Wind (1936), pt. 4, ch. 38People who see life as anything more than pure entertainment are missing the point.
George Carlin1937–2008When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? (2004)The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.
David Hume1711–1776On SuicideEvery parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection.
Arthur Schopenhauer1788–1860Counsels and Maxims, Vol. 2, Ch. 26, § 310, as translated by Eric F. J. PayneFor dying is not to be feared—it is the final comfort. As we all learn, eventually.
Robert A. Heinlein1907–1988The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (1985), Chapter 7 (p. 79)