Quotes about life and death
656 quotes from 337 people
Graham Greene1904–1991The Ministry of Fear (1943), Bk. 1, ch. 3, sct. 2
Germaine Greerborn 1939“Not a time to die” (3 December 1972), p. 147I 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)- Che Guevara1928–1967On Revolutionary Medicine (1960)
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
Nathan Hale1755–1776Last words before he was hanged by the British as a spy (22 September 1776), in William Hull’s account of what Captain John Montresor, who was there, told him the next dayDo not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.
Dag Hammarskjöld1905–1961Vägmärken · Markings (1963), 6 October 1957- Dag Hammarskjöld1905–1961Vägmärken · Markings (1963), 1950
We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours.
Dag Hammarskjöld1905–1961Vägmärken · Markings (1963), 1950When I hear somebody sigh, ‘Life is hard,’ I am always tempted to ask, ‘Compared to what?’
SHSydney J. Harris1917–1986Strictly Personal (1953), “Purely Personal Prejudices”
Václav Havel1936–2011Letters to Olga (1988), p. 237
Nathaniel Hawthorne1804–1864Letter to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (4 June 1837)
William Hazlitt1778–1830Lectures on the English Poets (1818), Lecture I, “On Poetry in General”
