Imagine a number of men in chains, all under sentence of death, some of whom are each day butchered in the sight of the others; those remaining see their own condition in that of their fellows and, looking at each other with grief and despair, await their turn. This is an image of the human condition.
—Blaise Pascal, 1669Quotes
In dealing with the dead, if we treat them as if they were entirely dead, that would show a want of affection and should not be done; or, if we treat them as if they were entirely alive, that would show a want of wisdom and should not be done.
—Confucius, c. 500 BCI imagined it was more difficult to die.
—Louis XIV, 1715I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him.
—Book of Revelations, c. 90The only evidence, so far as I know, about another life is, first, that we have no evidence; and, secondly, that we are rather sorry that we have not, and wish we had.
—Robert G. Ingersoll, 1879I doubt that we have any right to pity the dead for their own sakes.
—Lord Byron, 1817If a man will observe as he walks the streets, I believe he will find the merriest countenances in mourning coaches.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706It is noble to die before doing anything that deserves death.
—Anaxandrides, c. 376What is death? A scary mask. Take it off—see, it doesn’t bite.
—Epictetus, c. 110When a man dies, and his kin are glad of it, they say, “He is better off.”
—Edgar Watson Howe, 1911Death keeps no calendar.
—George Herbert, 1640The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better, only the god knows.
—Socrates, 399 BCEpitaph, n. An inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906