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Quotes about life and death

656 quotes from 337 people

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Therefore wait to see life’s ending ere thou count one mortal blest;
Wait till free from pain and sorrow he has gained his final rest.
Sophocles496–406 BCOedipus the King (c. 429 BC), spoken by ChorusIn context
- Happiness
Races of mortal man
Whose life is but a span,
I count ye but the shadow of a shade!
Sophocles496–406 BCOedipus the King (c. 429 BC), spoken by ChorusIn context
He hath provision for all: fell plague he hath learnt to endure;
Safe whate’er may befall: yet for death he hath found no cure.
Sophocles496–406 BCAntigone (c. 441 BC), spoken by ChorusIn context
He wanted to show that fate ruled people’s lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow.
W. W. Jacobs1863–1943The Monkey’s Paw (1902)In context
- Luck
Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1890)In context
Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.
Ambrose Bierce1842–1914An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1890)In context
How life is strange and changeful! How little a thing is needed for us to be lost or to be saved!
Guy de Maupassant1850–1893The Necklace (1884)In context
- Luck
A simple child, dear brother Jim,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?
William Wordsworth1770–1850We Are Seven (1798)In context
- Children
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
John Keats1795–1821When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be (1818)In context
- Fear
- Writing
And the angels, all pallid, and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy, “Man,”
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.
Edgar Allan Poe1809–1849The Conqueror Worm (1843)In context
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Walt Whitman1819–1892O Captain! My Captain! (1865)In context
- Leadership
That you are here⁠—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.
Walt Whitman1819–1892O Me! O Life! (1867)In context
- Motivation & Goals
- Poetry
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Edwin Arlington Robinson1869–1935Richard Cory (1897)In context
Degenerate sons and daughters,
Life is too strong for you⁠—
It takes life to love Life.
Edgar Lee Masters1868–1950Lucinda Matlock (1915)In context
- Love
But I’ve a rendezvous with Death
At midnight in some flaming town,
When Spring trips north again this year,
And I to my pledged word am true,
I shall not fail that rendezvous.
Alan Seeger1888–1916I Have a Rendezvous with Death (1916)In context
- War & Peace