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Quotes about life and death

656 quotes from 337 people

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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 day
- Patriotism
She was the people’s princess and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and our memories for ever.
Tony Blairborn 1953Statement on the death of Diana, Princess of Wales (31 August 1997)
For the whole earth is the tomb of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions in their own country, but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men.
Pericles494–429 BCPericles’ Funeral Oration (431 BC)
- Fame
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Jesus7 BC–AD 30The Sermon on the Mount
- Hope
Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further with the blood of my children and with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments,⁠—I submit; so let it be done!
John Brown1800–1859John Brown’s Last Speech (1859)
- Justice
- Slavery
The difficulty, my friends, is not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.
Socrates470–399 BCThe Apology of Socrates (399 BC)
- Morality
Thou know’st ’tis common, all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Hamlet (c. 1600), Act I, Scene II, spoken by QueenIn context
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable
Seem to me all the uses of this world!
William Shakespeare1564–1616Hamlet (c. 1600), Act I, Scene II, spoken by HamletIn context
- Emotion
The undiscover’d country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns
William Shakespeare1564–1616Hamlet (c. 1600), Act III, Scene I, spoken by HamletIn context
There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Hamlet (c. 1600), Act V, Scene II, spoken by HamletIn context
- God
The rest is silence.
William Shakespeare1564–1616Hamlet (c. 1600), Act V, Scene II, spoken by HamletIn context
Any relic of the dead is precious, if they were valued living.
Emily Brontë1818–1848Wuthering Heights (1847), Chapter XIIIIn context
Be with me always⁠—take any form⁠—drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!
Emily Brontë1818–1848Wuthering Heights (1847), Chapter XVIIn context
- Love
I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.
Emily Brontë1818–1848Wuthering Heights (1847), Chapter XXXIVIn context
No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world.
Mary Shelley1797–1851Frankenstein (1818), Chapter IVIn context
- Science