Death

"Come to the bridal-chamber, Death! Come to the mother's, when she feels, For the first time, her first-born's breath! Come when the blessed seals That close the pestilence are broke, And crowded cities wail its stroke!"

"Death borders upon our birth; and our cradle stands in our grave."

"The sole means now for the saving of the beings of the planet Earth would be to implant again into their presences a new organ … of such properties that every one of these unfortunates during the process of existence should constantly sense and be cognizant of the inevitability of his own death as well as the death of everyone upon whom his eyes or attention rests. Only such a sensation and such a cognizance can now destroy the egoism completely crystallized in them."

"Every one of those unfortunates during the process of existence should constantly sense and be cognizant of the inevitability of his own death as well as of the death of everyone upon whom his eyes or attention rests. Only such a sensation and such a cognizance can now destroy the egoism completely crystallized in them that has swallowed up the whole of their Essence, and also that tendency to hate others which flows from it."

"Man has the possibility of existence after death. But possibility is one thing and the realization of the possibility is quite a different thing."

"When life is woe, And hope is dumb, The World says, "Go!" The Grave says, "Come!""

"I have not declared that the Tathagata exists after death... that is not conducive to the purpose, not conducive to Dhamma, not the way to embark on the holy life; it does not lead to disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to calm, to higher knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana. That is why I have not declared it."

"Fling but a stone, the giant dies."

"He pass'd the flaming bounds of place and time: The living throne, the sapphire blaze, Where angels tremble while they gaze, He saw; but blasted with excess of light, Closed his eyes in endless night."

"Can storied urn or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Or flattery soothe the dull cold ear of death?"

"He had never feared the entity Death but was often afraid of dying."

"None who e'er knew her can believe her dead; Though, should she die, they deem it well might be Her spirit took its everlasting flight In summer's glory, by the sunset sea, That onward through the Golden Gate is fled. Ah, where that bright soul is cannot be night."

"What if thou be saint or sinner, Crooked gray-beard, straight beginner,— Empty paunch, or jolly dinner, When Death thee shall call. All alike are rich and richer, King with crown, and cross-legged stitcher, When the grave hides all."

"To the man whom death’s wing has touched, what once seemed important is so no longer; and other things become so which once did not seem important or which he did not even know existed. The layers of acquired knowledge peel away from the mind like a cosmetic and reveal, in patches, the naked flesh beneath, the authentic being hidden there.Henceforth this was what I sought to discover: the authentic being, “the old Adam” whom the Gospels no longer accepted; the man whom everything around me—books, teachers, family and I myself—had tried from the first to suppress. And I had already glimpsed him, faint, obscured by their encrustations, but all the more valuable, all the more urgent. I scorned henceforth that secondary, learned being whom education had pasted over him.And I would compare myself to a palimpsest; I shared the thrill of the scholar who beneath more recent script discovers. on the same paper, an infinitely more precious ancient text."

"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."

"Where the brass knocker, wrapt in flannel band, Forbids the thunder of the footman's hand, The' upholder, rueful harbinger of death, Waits with impatience for the dying breath."

"Dead as a door nail."

"The prince who kept the world in awe, The judge whose dictate fix'd the law; The rich, the poor, the great, the small, Are levell'd; death confounds 'em all."

"To die is landing on some silent shore, Where billows never break nor tempests roar; Ere well we feel the friendly stroke 'tis o'er."

"Life's race well run, Life's work well done, Life's crown well won, Now comes rest."

"Had [Christ] the death of death to death Not given death by dying: The gates of life had never been To mortals open lying."

"I can state from my own experience that what people fear in death is the loneliness of having to leave this world forever. Though people may not be consciously aware of all the phenomena around them under normal circumstances, the thought that that which makes them themselves will be lost forever is a terribly lonely thing."

"Drawing near her death, she sent most pious thoughts as harbingers to heaven; and her soul saw a glimpse of happiness through the chinks of her sicknesse broken body."

"Human beings desire more than small pleasures in the routines of life. We also seek great challenges in the face of death."

"We may feel only anxious (or even sick) for a number of reasons which have no apparent connection with our conscience. [...] One form of this anxiety is the fear of death; not the normal fear of having to die which every human being experiences in the contemplation of death, but a horror of dying by which people can be possessed constantly. This irrational fear of death results from the failure of having lived; it is the expression of our guilty conscience for having wasted our life and missed the chance of productive use of our capacities. To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable."

"Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life."

": The mountain is passed; now we shall get on better."

"La montagne est passée; nous irons mieux."

"I knew a man who once said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.""

"A dying man can do nothing easy."

"Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes!"

"If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete."

"When you take the wires of the cage apart, you do not hurt the bird, but help it. You let it out of its prison. How do vou know that death does not help me when it takes the wires of my cage down? — that it does not release me, and put me into some better place, and better condition of life?"

""Paid the debt of nature." No; it is not paying a debt; it is rather like bringing a note to the bank to obtain solid gold for it. In this case you bring this cumbrous body which is nothing worth, and which you could not wish to retain long; you lay it down, and receive for it from the eternal treasures — liberty, victory, knowledge, rapture."

"We must all die! All leave ourselves, it matters not where, when, Nor how, so we die well; and can that man that does so Need lamentation for him?"

"Death hath so many doors to let out life."

"Young Never-Grow-Old, with your heart of gold And the dear boy's face upon you; It is hard to tell, though we know it well, That the grass is growing upon you."

"Sit the comedy out, and that done, When the Play's at an end, let the Curtain fall down."

"On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everybody drops to zero."

"I am not in the least surprised that your impression of death becomes more lively, in proportion as age and infirmity bring it nearer. God makes use of this rough trial to undeceive us in respect to our courage, to make us feel our weakness, and to keep us in all humility in His hands."

"He that always waits upon God is ready whenever He calls. Neglect not to set your accounts even; he is a happy man who to lives as that death at all times may find him at leisure to die."

"Out of the strain of the Doing, Into the peace of the Done; Out in the thirst of Pursuing, Into the rapture of Won. Out of grey mist into brightness, Out of pale dusk into Dawn— Out of all wrong into rightness, We from these fields shall be gone. "Nay," say the saints, "Not gone but come, Into eternity's Harvest Home.""

"But learn that to die is a debt we must all pay."

"I cried to Thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise Thee? Shall it declare Thy truth?""

"Philosophy instructs us to pay homage to the gods, not through hope or fear, but from veneration of Their superior nature. It moreover enables us to conquer the fear of death, by teaching us that it is no proper object of terror; since, whilst we are, death is not, and when death arrives, we are not: so that it neither concerns the living nor the dead."

"He thought it happier to be dead, To die for Beauty, than live for bread."

"If we could know Which of us, darling, would be first to go, Who would be first to breast the swelling tide And step alone upon the other side— If we could know!"

"Death is the king of this world: 'tis his park Where he breeds life to feed him. Cries of pain Are music for his banquet."

"[Words he used to refuse heart surgery the day before he passed away.]"

"I want to go when I want. It is tasteless to prolong life artificially. I have done my share; it is time to go. I will do it elegantly."