Quotes about life and death
656 quotes from 337 people
If I hear the Way [of truth] in the morning, I am content even to die in that evening.
Confucius551–479 BCAnalects, Chapter IVMy life has been the poem I would have writ,
But I could not both live and utter it.
Henry David Thoreau1817–1862A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849), FridayIt’s not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late.
ECEmil Cioran1911–1995The Trouble With Being Born (1973)On him does death lie heavily, who, but too well known to all, dies to himself unknown.
Seneca the Younger5 BC–AD 65Thyestes, lines 401-403; (Chorus).The day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying.
Jean Cocteau1889–1963“Postambule” in La Fin du Potomac (1939)Life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.
Jack London1876–1916White Fang (1906)Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.
Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.
Dag Hammarskjöld1905–1961Vägmärken · Markings (1963), 6 October 1957We cannot tear a single page from our life, but we can throw the whole book into the fire.
George Sand1804–1876Mauprat, ch. 11 (1837); Matilda M. Hays (trans.) Mauprat (London: E. Churton, 1847) p. 121Not to be born is undoubtedly the best plan of all. Unfortunately, it is within no one’s reach.
ECEmil Cioran1911–1995The Trouble With Being Born (1973)If being a kid is about learning how to live, then being a grown-up is about learning how to die.
Stephen Kingborn 1947Christine (1983), Pt. 1, Ch. 5When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
Samuel Johnson1709–1784Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III (20 September 1777) p. 356
Hannah Arendt1906–1975Love and Saint Augustine (1929), p. 17- Samuel Johnson1709–1784Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III (19 September 1777) p. 351, often misquoted as being hanged in the morning.
