Death

"All beings in the world, all bodies must break up: Even the Teacher, peerless in the human world, The mighty Lord and perfect Buddha has passed away."

"Impermanent are compounded things, prone to rise and fall, Having risen, they are destroyed, their passing truest bliss."

"When you think of your own death, the fact that all the good things in life will come to an end is certainly a reason for regret. But that doesn’t seem to be the whole story. Most people want there to be more of what they enjoy in life, but for some people, the prospect of nonexistence is itself frightening, in a way that isn’t adequately explained by what has been said so far. The thought that the world will go on without you, that you will become nothing, is very hard to take in. It’s not clear why. We all accept the fact that there was a time before we were born, when we didn’t yet exist—so why should we be so disturbed at the prospect of nonexistence after our death? But somehow it doesn’t feel the same. The prospect of nonexistence is frightening, at least to many people, in a way that past nonexistence cannot be. The fear of death is very puzzling, in a way that regret about the end of life is not. It’s easy to understand that we might want to have more life, more of the things it contains, so that we see death as a negative evil. But how can the prospect of your own nonexistence be alarming in a positive way? If we really cease to exist at death, there’s nothing to look forward to, so how can there be anything to be afraid of? If one thinks about it logically, it seems as though death should be something to be afraid of only if we will survive it, and perhaps undergo some terrifying transformation. But that doesn’t prevent many people from thinking that annihilation is one of the worst things that could happen to them."

"I do not think life will change for the better without an assault on the establishment, which goes on exploiting the wretched of the earth. This belief lies at the heart of the concept of revolutionary suicide. Thus it is better to oppose the forces that would drive me to self-murder than to endure them. Although I risk the likelihood of death, there is at least the possibility, if not the probability, of changing intolerable conditions."

"The biggest part of my life I did not trust people who were not scared of dying, because when you get older, you think about death more and more times. I think if we could choose, no one wants to die. That's why we can come to the conclusion that everyone wants to have the eternal life, which seems to become possible in the future due to the developments in the medical science. But the question is not really if you want eternal life, it is more if you want to have eternal life at your children's expense. By the way: we would get big ecologic problems if we all remain alive."

"Everybody dies. The obstetrician slaps you on the ass with one hand and hands you a postdated death certificate with the other."

"All humans will, without exception, eventually die. After they die, the place they go is Mu (nothingness)."

"As I'm sure you've noticed, death isn't the great equalizer it's made out to be. Layers of hierarchy remain, interlaced by the tangled webs of power and privilege. The dead, after all, are human, and what could be more human than an unnecessarily oppressive bureaucracy at the end all be all of existence?"

"I don't know what God is. I don't know what death is.But I believe they have between them some fervent and necessary arrangement."

"And die with decency."

"Tendimus huc omnes; metam properamus ad unam. Omnia sub leges mors vocat atra suas."

": We are all bound thither; we are hastening to the same common goal. Black death calls all things under the sway of its laws."

"Stulte, quid est somnus, gelidæ nisi mortis imago? Longa quiescendi tempora fata dabunt."

": Thou fool, what is sleep but the image of death? Fate will give an eternal rest."

"Ultima semper Expectanda dies homini est, dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo et suprema funera debet."

": Man should ever look to his last day, and no one should be called happy before his funeral."

"Nec mihi mors gravis est posituro morte dolores."

": Death is not grievous to me, for I shall lay aside my pains by death."

"Quocunque adspicias, nihil est nisi mortis imago."

": Wherever you look there is nothing but the image of death."

"I don't care when I die, when you die, you die. What I don't want is to die in my bed. To be killed in an accident or to be shot is my preferred way to die."

"I've said I'm not afraid of death, and that's true. Dying, though, is another matter. Dying slowly in great pain is something I actively try to avoid."

"Death's but a path that must be trod, If man would ever pass to God."

"Reflect on death as in Jesus Christ, not as without Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ it is dreadful, it is alarming, it is the terror of nature. In Jesus Christ it is fair and lovely, it is good and holy, it is the joy of saints."

"Death ends a life, but not a relationship. Those memories, I think, linger in love. These honored dead have returned to the love that created them, and we miss their faces that we’ll see no more. Yet, we know at the deepest level of our being that something of who they were, and are now, endures at a whole new dimension of reality. And our true nature is to trust and embrace both life and death. As Thornton Wilder once wrote, 'There is a land of the living and the land of the dead, and the only bridge is love, the only survivor, the only meaning.'"

"Death is repose, but the thought of death disturbs all repose."

"Death comes to all. His cold and sapless hand Waves o'er the world, and beckons us away. Who shall resist the summons?"

"O lady, he is dead and gone! Lady, he's dead and gone! And at his head a green grass turfe, And at his heels a stone."

"For death betimes is comfort, not dismay, And who can rightly die needs no delay."

"Earl of Sandwich: 'Pon my honor, Wilkes, I don't know whether you'll die on the gallows or of the pox. John Wilkes: That must depend my Lord, upon whether I first embrace your Lordship's principles, or your Lordship's mistresses."

"Nam vita morti propior est quotidie."

": For life is nearer every day to death."

"Look forward a little further to the period when all the noise and tumult and business of this world shall have closed forever."

"Quem dii diligunt, Adolescens moritur, dum valet, sentit, sapit."

": He whom the gods love dies young, whilst he is full of health, perception, and judgment."

"Omnibus a suprema die eadem, quæ ante primum; nec magis a morte sensus ullus aut corpori aut animæ quam ante natalem."

": His last day places man in the same state as he was before he was born; nor after death has the body or soul any more feeling than they had before birth."

": Concerning the dead nothing but good shall be spoken."

"Come! let the burial rite be read— The funeral song be sung!— An anthem for the queenliest dead That ever died so young— A dirge for her, the doubly dead In that she died so young."

"Out—out are the lights—out all! And, over each quivering form, The curtain, a funeral pall, Comes down with the rush of a storm, And the angels, all pallid and wan, Uprising, unveiling, affirm That the play is the tragedy, "Man," And its hero the Conqueror Worm."

"See my lips tremble and my eyeballs roll, Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul!"

"O Death, all eloquent! you only prove What dust we dote on, when 'tis man we love."

"Till tired, he sleeps, and life's poor play is o'er."

"But thousands die without or this or that, Die, and endow a college or a cat."

"Tell me, my soul! can this be death?"

"The world recedes; it disappears; Heav'n opens on my eyes; my ears With sounds seraphic ring: Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly! O Grave! where is thy victory? O Death! where is thy sting?"

"Vital spark of heavenly flame! Quit, oh quit this mortal frame."

"By foreign hands thy dying eyes were clos'd, By foreign hands thy decent limbs compos'd, By foreign hands thy humble grave adorn'd, By strangers honour'd, and by strangers mourn'd."

"A heap of dust remains of thee; 'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be!"

"De mortuis nil nisi bonum."