Man has here two and a half minutes—one to smile, one to sigh, and half a one to love; for in the midst of this minute he dies.
—Jean Paul, 1795Quotes
I was born without knowing why, I have lived without knowing why, and I am dying without either knowing why or how.
—Pierre Gassendi, 1655There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen.
—Marcus Aurelius, c. 175I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark.
—Thomas Hobbes, 1679Epitaph, n. An inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906When 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, 1640You are dust, and to dust you shall return.
—Book of Genesis, c. 800 BCI’m doomed to die, right? Why should I care if I go to Hades either with gout in my leg or a runner’s grace? Plenty of people will carry me there.
—Nicharchus, c. 90Is this dying? Is this all? Is this all that I feared when I prayed against a hard death? Oh, I can bear this! I can bear it!
—Cotton Mather, 1728It is not my design to drink or sleep; my design is to make what haste I can to be gone.
—Oliver Cromwell, 1658Whoever has died is freed from sin.
—St. Paul, c. 50I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay, 1928