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Quotes about life and death

656 quotes from 337 people

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Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
Emily Dickinson1830–1886Because I could not stop for Death (1890)In context
I heard a fly buzz when I died
Emily Dickinson1830–1886I heard a Fly buzz – when I died (1896)In context
This is the hour of lead
Remembered if outlived
As freezing persons recollect
The snow⁠—
First chill, then stupor, then
The letting go.
Emily Dickinson1830–1886After great pain, a formal feeling comes (1929)In context
- Emotion
Since then ‘t is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses’ heads
Were toward eternity.
Emily Dickinson1830–1886Because I could not stop for Death (1890)In context
- Time
There interposed a fly,
With blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz,
Between the light and me;
And then the windows failed, and then
I could not see to see.
Emily Dickinson1830–1886I heard a Fly buzz – when I died (1896)In context
Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne1572–1631No Man Is an Island (1624), Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624), Meditation 17In context
What if this present were the world’s last night?
John Donne1572–1631Holy Sonnets, No. 13, line 1
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those, whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
John Donne1572–1631Death, Be Not Proud (1633)In context
Death, thou shalt die.
John Donne1572–1631Death, Be Not Proud (1633)In context
All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated
John Donne1572–1631No Man Is an Island (1624)In context
A dream! What is a dream? And is not our life a dream?
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), V
- Sleep
Only to live, to live and live! Life, whatever it may be!… How true it is! Good God, how true! Man is a vile creature!… And vile is he who calls him vile for that
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881Crime and Punishment (1867), Part II, Chapter VIIn context
What should I do if I were not to die now? What if I were to return to life again? What an eternity of days, and all mine! How I should grudge and count up every minute of it, so as to waste not a single instant!
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881The Idiot (1869), Part I, Chapter VIn context
- Time
Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent.
Arthur Conan Doyle1859–1930The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891–1892), A Case of IdentityIn context
Believe in life! Always human beings will live and progress to greater, broader, and fuller life.
W. E. B. Du Bois1868–1963Last message to the world (written 1957); read at his funeral (1963)
- Hope