Quotes about life and death
656 quotes from 337 people
Not even nothingness preceded life. Nothingness owes its very idea to existence.
George MacDonald1824–1905From “Life” in Unspoken Sermons Series II (1886)Jesus’ commandment never wishes to destroy life, but rather to preserve, strengthen, and heal life.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer1906–1945Discipleship (1937), Preface, tr. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss (2001)
Albert Einstein1879–1955The World As I See It (1949)
Felix Adler1851–1933Life and Destiny (1913)
Ursula K. Le Guin1929–2018The Farthest Shore (1972), Chapter 8, “The Children of the Open Sea” (Ged)
Fyodor Dostoyevsky1821–1881The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1877), VArt would not be important if life were not important, and life is important.
James Baldwin1924–1987“An interview with James Baldwin” (1961)
Percy Bysshe Shelley1792–1822Adonais (1821), St. LIISo he passed over, and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.
John Bunyan1628–1688The Pilgrim’s Progress, Part II (1684), the passing of Mr. Valiant-for-Truth
Leon Trotsky1879–1940Trotsky’s Testament (1940)
Jorge Luis Borges1899–1986“A Biography of Tadeo Isidoro Cruz”, in The Aleph (1949); tr. Andrew Hurley, Collected Fictions (1998)- SSamson1118–1078 BCJudges 16:30 (KJV)
- PSPublilius Syrus101–101 BCThe Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave, Maxim 511
‘Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Joseph Addison1672–1719Cato, A Tragedy (1713)
