When a man dies, and his kin are glad of it, they say, “He is better off.”
—Edgar Watson Howe, 1911Quotes
You are dust, and to dust you shall return.
—Book of Genesis, c. 800 BCEpitaph, n. An inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Death keeps no calendar.
—George Herbert, 1640If a man will observe as he walks the streets, I believe he will find the merriest countenances in mourning coaches.
—Jonathan Swift, 1706Whoever has died is freed from sin.
—St. Paul, c. 50I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.
—Thomas Hobbes, 1679It is noble to die before doing anything that deserves death.
—Anaxandrides, c. 376There never is absolute birth nor complete death, in the strict sense, consisting in the separation of the soul from the body. What we call births are developments and growths, while what we call deaths are envelopments and diminutions.
—Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, 1714I think it makes small difference to the dead if they are buried in the tokens of luxury. All this is an empty glorification left for those who live.
—Euripides, 415 BCWhat is death? A scary mask. Take it off—see, it doesn’t bite.
—Epictetus, c. 110A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BCNobody, sir, dies willingly.
—Antiphanes, c. 370 BC