Thus I am doubly armed: my death and life|
My bane and antidote are both before me:
This in a moment brings me to an end;
But this informs me I shall never die.
The soul, secure in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger and defies the point.
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years;
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds. –Cato,
Joseph Addison, English essayist and statesman, 1672-171
Death should not be seen as the end but as a very effective
way to cut down expenses. –Woody Allen, American director, 1835-
Eternal nothingness is fine if you happen to be dressed for
it. –Woody Allen
I do not believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a
change of underwear. –Woody Allen
I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work…I
want to achieve it through not dying. –Woody
Allen
There’re three kinds
of death in this world; there’s heart death, there’s brain death, and
there’s being off the network. –Guy Almes
...It was from an old friend who thought he was dying.
Anyway, he said, "Life and death issues don't come along that often, thank
God, so don't treat everything like it's life or death. Go easier. –Thomas
Arnold, British historian and educator, 1795-1842
Nothing seems so tragic to one who is old as the death of
one who is young, and this proves that life is a good thing. –Zoë Atkins,
American playwright, 1886-1958
To save your world, you asked this man to die,
Would this man, could he see you now, ask why? –
Epitaph for a Fallen Soldier, Wysten Hugh Auden, English poet and
playwright, 1907-1973
They are not dead, our sons who fell in glory,
Who gave their lives for Freedom and for Truth.
We shall grow old, but never their great story,
Never their gallant youth.
In a perpetual springtime set apart,
Their memory forever green shall grow,
In some bright secret meadow of the heart
Where never falls the snow. – In Memoriam, Joseph Auslander
You only
obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. –Richard David Bach,
American writer, 1936-
This--this was what made life: a moment of quiet, the water
falling in the fountain, the girl's voice...a moment of captured beauty. He who
is truly wise will never permit such moments to escape. –Roger Gilbert
Bannister, British runner and politician, first man to break the four-minute
mile, 1954-
I cannot sing the old songs,
or dream those dreams again. –Charlotte Barnard
To die will be an awfully big adventure. –James Matthew
Barie, British playwright, 1860-1937
Even death is
unreliable: instead of zero it may be some ghastly hallucination, such as the
square of –1. –Samuel
Beckett, Irish writer and absurdist playwright, 1906-1989
Grief stricken people do not expect to emerge from the
chapel of rest to find grown men skulking in the rhododendrons with tab-ends in
their mouths. If the hearse drivers
must smoke then facilities should be provided. —Alan Bennett, British
playwright, 1934-
What I like about Clive,
Is that he is no longer alive
There is a great deal to be said,
For being dead. –Edmund Clerihew Bentley, British novelist and journalist,
1875-1956
I’m not unwell. I’m fucking dying. –Jeffrey
Bernard
Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they
won’t come to yours. –Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, American Hall of Fame
baseball player and manager, 1925-
Behold, this day I go the way of the earth. –Joshua
O, death, where is thy sting?
O, grave, where is thy victory? –I Corinthians 15: 55
The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance.
–Psalms
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I
have kept the faith. –II Timothy 4: 7
Epitaph: An inscription on a tomb showing that virtues
acquired by death have a retroactive effect. –Ambrose Gwinett Bierce, American
author and humorist, 1842-1914
There are four kinds or homicide: felonious, excusable,
justifiable, and praiseworthy. –Bierce
We are so tired, my heart and I.
Of all things here beneath the sky
Only one thing would please
us best-
Endless, unfathomable rest. –Mathilde Blind, French poet and educator, 1841-1896
If a man watches three football games in a row, he should
be declared legally dead. –Erma Bombeck, American journalist and humorist,
1927-1996
It is cowardice to commit suicide. –Napoleon Bonaparte,
1817, French military leader and dictator, 1769-1821
Oh, well, whatever happens, there is always death.
–Napoleon Bonaparte
How long after you are
gone will ripples remain as evidence that you were cast into the pool of life?
–Grant M. Bright
I give the fight up; let there be an end,
A privacy, an obscure nook for me,
I want to be forgotten even by God. – Paraclesus, Robert Browning, 1812-1889
It must be so unnerving
to be so famous that you know they are going to come in the moment you croak and
hang velvet cords across all the doorways and treat everything with reverence.
Think of the embarrassment if you left a copy of Reader’s Digest
Condensed Books on the bedside table. –Bill
Bryson, American author and journalist, 1951
Because I have loved life, I
shall have no sorrow to die. –Amelia Josephine Burr
How beautifully leaves grow
old. How light and full of color
are their last days. –John Burroughs, American naturalist and writer,
1837-1921
Death is only a larger kind of going abroad. –Samuel
Butler, British author, 1835-1902
There is nothing, which at once affects a man, so much and
so little as his own death. –Samuel Butler
But he, first with a start and then with a wink, said:
“There’s another star gone out, I think”. –George Gordon Noel Byron,
English poet, 1788-1824
Fare thee well! And
if for ever,
Still for ever, fare thee well! –Byron
Gone glimmering through the dream of things that were. –Byron
Let there be more joy and
laughter in you living. –Eileen Caddy
To live in hearts we leave behind,
Is not to die. – Hallowed Ground,
Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet,
1777-1884
Out of Eternity
The new Day is born;
Into Eternity
At night will return. –Carlyl
For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to
grow but phone calls taper off. –John William “Johnny” Carson, American
comedian and television host, 1925-
He who fears death has already lost the life he covets.
–Cato the Elder, aka Cato the Censor, Roman statesman and writer, 234-149 BC
I would rather have men
ask, after I am dead, why I have no monument than why I have one. –Marcus
Porcius Cato, aka Cato the Younger, Roman orator, writer, philosopher, and
statesman, 95-46 BC
There is no remembrance which time does not obliterate, nor
pain which death does not terminate. –Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spanish
writer, 1547-1616
In the stars is written the death of every man. Geoffrey
Chaucer, English poet, 1340?-1400
All I desire for my own burial is not to be buried alive.
–Phillip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield, English writer and statesman, 1694-1773
I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is ready for the great ordeal of meeting me
is another question. –Winston
Leonard Spencer Churchill, British Prime Minister (1940-1945, 1951-1955),
1874-1964
The life of the dead is
placed in the memory of the living. –Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman,
orator, and philosopher, 106-43 BC
I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you.
I am dead. –Jean Cocteau, French surrealist, 1899-1963
Always leave them laughing
when you say good-bye. –George Michael Cohan, American singer, songwriter, and
playwright, 1878-1942
How lovely are the portals of the night,
When stars come out to watch the daylight die. –
Twilight, Thomas Cole, American painter, 1801-1848
I am dying. What
an irreparable loss to the world. –Isidore Auguste Marie François Comte,
French philosopher, founder of positivism, and founder of sociology, 1798-1857
As many live because they are afraid to die as die because
they are afraid to live. –Charles Caleb Cotton, English poet and translator,
1630-1687
I read the Times and if my name is not in the obits I
proceed to enjoy the day. –Noel Pierce Coward, British actor, playwright, and
composer, 1899-1973
What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. –Crowfoot
To be born free is an
accident; to live free is a responsibility; to die free is an obligation.
–Mrs. Hubbard Davis
We cannot put the face
of a person on a stamp unless said person is deceased. My suggestion therefore is that you drop dead.
-James Edward Day, American Postmaster General (1961-1963), 1914-1996
He’d make a lovely
corpse. –Charles John Huffam
Dickens (“Boz”), British writer, 1812-1870
Death be not proud. – Sonnet:
Death, John Donne, English metaphysical poet, c. 1572-1631
Never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee. –John Donne
Reading the epitaphs,
our own salvation lies in resurrecting the dead and burying the living. –Paul
Eldridge
Good-bye, proud world, I’m going home;
Thou art not my friend, I am not thine. –Ralph Waldo Emerson, American
essayist, poet, and philosopher, 1803-1882
He who doesn’t fear death dies only once. –Giovanni
Falcone, Italian judge, 1939-1992
It’s a very short trip.
While alive, live. –Malcom Forbes, American millionaire and publisher
of Forbes (1957-1990),
1919-1990
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by a
spectacular error. –John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-born American economist,
writer, and diplomat, 1908-
Live as you will have wished
to live when you are dying. –Christian F. Gilbert
Death? Why
this fuss about death? Use you
imagination, try to visualize a world without death!
Death is the essential condition of life, not an evil. –Charlotte
Perkins Anna Gilman, American feminist, writer, and editor, 1860-1935
A useless life is an early death. –Johann Wolfgang von Göethe,
German poet, playwright, and scientist, 1749-1832
He makes a very handsome corpse and becomes his coffin
prodigiously. –Oliver Goldsmith,
Irish author, poet, and playwright, 1728-1774
Life is a jest, and all things show it.
I thought so once, but now I know it. –John Gray
The paths of glory lead but to the grave. –Thomas Gray,
British poet and forerunner of romanticism, 1716-1771
Death is never at a loss for occasions. –Greek Anthology, Book IX
Do not seek death.
Death will find you. But
seek the road which makes a death a fulfillment. –Dag Hjalmar Agné Carl
Hammarskjold, Swedish political leader, United Nations Secretary General
(1953-1961), and Nobel Laureate, 1905-1961
You was a good man, and did good things. –Thomas Hardy,
English novelist and poet, 1840-1928
Great lives never go out.
They go on. –Benjamin Harrison, 23rd US president
(1889-1893), 1833-1901
I've seen things you
people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I
watched C-beams glitter in the darkness at Tannhauser Gate. All those moments
will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die. –Rutger Oelson Hauer,
Dutch actor, 1944-
(In his last days) God will forgive me.
It’s his job. –Heinrich Heine, German poet and journalist, 1797-1856
He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt.
–Joseph Heller, American author, 1923-1999
From the winter’s gray despair,
From the summer’s golden languor,
Death, the lover of Life,
Frees us forever. –William Ernest Henley, British poet, writer and editor,
1849-1903
Into the night go one and all. –Henley, The Ballad of Dead Actors
Night with her train of stars and her great gift of sleep.
–Henley
Only the young die good. –Oliver Herford, American poet
and illustrator, 1863-1935
Praise day at night, and life at the end. –George
Herbert, English clergyman and metaphysical poet, 1593-1633
Let the world slide, let the world go,
A fig for care, and a fig for woe!
If I can’t pay, why I can owe,
And death makes equal the high and low. –John Heywood, English writer and
epigrammatist, 1497?-1580
(Ars longa, vita brevis)
Art is long, life is brief. –Hippocrates (“The Father of Medicine”), Greek
physician, 460?-377? BC
Now I am about to take my
last voyage, a great leap in the dark. –Thomas Hobbes, English political
philosopher, 1588-1679
If Mr. Selwyn calls
again, show him up: If I am alive I shall be delighted to see him and if I am
dead he would like to see me. –Henry
Richard Fox Holland, British politician, 1773-1840
Our dead brothers still live for us and bid us think of
life, not death-of life to which in their youth they leant the passion and glory
of Spring. As I listen, the great
chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and
unseen powers and destinies of good and evil, our trumpets sound once more a
note of daring, hope, and will. –Oliver Wendall Holmes, Jr., American Supreme
Court justice (1902-1932), 1841-1938
Be still my heart; thou hast known worse than this.
–Homer, Greek epic poet, fl. 850 BC
The tribute of a tear is all I crave. –Homer
Fear of death has been the greatest ally of tyranny past
and present. –Sidney Hook, American social commentator and philosopher,
1902-1989
The man who declares that survival at all costs is the end
of existence is morally dead, because he’s prepared to sacrifice all others
which give life it’s meaning. –Sidney Hook
Death: To stop sinning suddenly. –Elbert Hubbard,
American author, 1856-1915
Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive. –Elbert Hubbard
It is better to die on
your feet than to live on your knees. –Dolores Ibárruri Gómez, aka La
Pasionaria, Spanish communist leader, 1895-1989
To spend life for something which outlasts it. –William
James, American psychologist and philosopher, 1842-1910
The ugliest of trades have their moments of enjoyment.
If I were a gravedigger, or even a hangman, there are some people I could
work for with a great deal of enjoyment. –Douglas William Jerold, English
playwright and humorist, 1803-1857
I want to die while you love me,
While yet you hold me fair,
While laughter lies upon my lips,
And lights are in my hair. –Georgia Douglas Johnson
Reflect that life, like every other blessing
Derives its value from its use alone. –Samuel “Dr.” Johnson, English
writer and lexicographer, 1709-1784
Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle
deliberation how it shall be spent. –Samuel “Dr.” Johnson
The evening of life brings with it its lamp. –Joseph
Joubert, French essayist and moralist, 1754-1824
Death is psychologically as important as birth…Shrinking away from it is something unhealthy and abnormal which robs the second half of life of its purpose. –Carl Gustav Jung, January 16, 1961, Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytic psychology, 1875-1961
Suicide is not abominable because God prohibits it; God
prohibits it because it is abominable. –Immanual Kant , German philosopher,
1724-1804
You have your brush, you have your colors, you paint
paradise, then in you go. –Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek writer, 1885-1957
I sent my Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life to spell,
And by and by my Soul returned to me,
And answered, “I myself am Heav’n and Hell” –Omar Khayyam, Persian poet,
astronomer, and mathematician, 1050?-1123
There was the door to which I found no key;
There was the veil through which I might not see. –Khayyam
And so make life, death and that vast forever
One grand sweet song. – A Farewell,
Charles Kingsley, English author and clergyman, 1819-1875
Every soul must taste of death. –Koran
(Age nine, wandering through a graveyard), I wonder where
all the bad people are buried. –Charles Lamb, English essayist and critic,
1755-1834
I detest life-insurance agents; they always argue that I
shall some day die, which is not so. –Stephen
Leacock, Canadian humorist and economist, 1869-1944
The first requisite for immortality is death. –Stanislaw
Jerzu Lec, Polish aphorist, poet, and satirist, 1909-1966
I don’t jog because when I
die, I want to be sick. –Abe Lemmons
There’s nothing wrong with
you that reincarnation won’t cure. –Jack E. Leonard
If I am killed I can die but once;
But to live in constant dread of it is to die over and over again. –Abraham
Lincoln, 16th US president (1861-1865), 1809-1865
These, too, these, too
I leave to you! –Anne Morrow Spencer Lindbergh, American writer, 1906-2001
Do not come when I am dead
To sit beside a low green mound,
Or bring the first gay daffodils
Because I love them so,
For I shall not be there.
You cannot find me there.
I will look at you from the eyes
Of little children;
I will bend to meet you in the swaying boughs
Of bud-thrilled trees,
And caress you with the passionate sweep
Of storm-filled winds;
I will give you strength in your upward tread
Of everlasting hills
I will cool your tired body in the flow
Of the limpid river;
I will warm your work-glorified hands through the glow
Of the winter fire;
I will soothe you into forgetfulness to the drop, drop
Of the rain on the roof;
I will speak to you out of the rhymes
Of the Masters;
I will dance with you in the lilt
Of the violin, And make your heart leap with the burning cadence
Of the organ;
I will flood your soul with the flaming radiance
Of the sunrise,
And bring you peace in the tender rose and gold
Of the after-sunset.
All these have made me happy:
They are a part of me;
I shall become a part of them. – My Hereafter, Juanita De Long
Be still, sad heart, and cease repining
Behind the clouds the sun is shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all;
Into each life some rain,
Some days must be dark;
And dreary. – The Rainy Day, Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet, 1807-1882
Go forth to meet the shadowy future without fear and with a
manly heart. –Longfellow
There is no grief like a grief that does not speak.
–Longfellow
(To attendants at his deathbed), Why are you weeping?
Did you imagine that I was immortal? –Louis XIV, aka “Louis the
Great” or “Louis the Sun King,” French monarch (1643-1715), 1638-1715
Every man of genius is considerably helped by being dead. –Robert Staughton Lynd, American sociologist, 1892-1970
Old soldiers never die.
They just fade away. –Douglas MacArthur, American general, US Chief of
Staff (1930-1935), 1880-1964
It has always seemed to me more artistic, when the curtain
falls on the last performance, to accept the inevitable E finita la comedia.
It is tempting perhaps, but unrewarding to hang about the green room
after final retirement from the stage. –Maurice Harold MacMillian, British
Prime Minister (1957-1963), 1894-1986
Time brings not death; it
brings but changes. –Douglas Malloch
The dead have nothing except
the memory they’ve left. –Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian humorous writer,
1878-1952
We begin to die as soon as we
are born, and the end is linked to the beginning. –Marcus Manilus
If I am ever stuck on a
respirator or a life support system, I definitely want to be unplugged, but not
until I get down to a size eight. –Henriette Mantel
Hell hath no limits. –Christopher Marlowe, English
dramatist and poet, 1564-1539
A little while with grief and laughter,
And then the day will close;
The shadows gather…what comes after
No man knows. –Donald Robert Perry “Don” Marquis, American humorist and
journalist, 1878-1937
There is nothing like a
morning funeral for sharpening the appetite for lunch.
–Arthur James Marshall-Smith, Canadian critic and poet, 1902-1980
Tomorrow life is too late, live now. –Martial, Roman poet
and epigrammatist, fl. 1st century BC
Either he’s dead or my
watch has stopped. –Groucho Marx
(born Julius Marx), American comic actor, 1895-1977
Dying is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you
is to have nothing to do with it. –William
Somerset Maugham, British author, 1876-196
If, after I depart this vale, you remember me and have
thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink at a homely girl.
–Henry Louis Mencken, American satirist essayist, and journalist, 1885-1967
My candle burns bright at both ends;
It will not last the night;
But, ah, my foes, and oh, my friends-
It gives a lovely light. –Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet, 1892-1950
Time does not bring relief; you all have lied
Who told me time would ease me of my pain!
I miss him in the weeping of the rain;
I want him at the shrinking of the tide;
The old snows melt from every mountain-side,
And last year's leaves are smoke in every lane;
But last year's bitter loving must remain
Heaped on my heart, and my old thoughts abide.
There are a hundred places where I fear
To go, -- so with his memory they brim.
And entering with relief some quiet place
Where never fell his boot or shone his face
I say, "There is no memory of him here!"
And so stand stricken, so remembering him. –Edna St. Vincent Millay
You rotten swines. I
told you I’d be deaded. –Spike Milligan, British comedian and humorous
writer, 1918-
O death where is thy
sting? O grave where is thy
victory? Where, indeed?
Many a badly stung survivor, faced with the aftermath of some
relatives’ funeral has woefully conceded that the victory has been won hands
down by the funeral establishment-in a disastrously unequal battle. –Jessica
Mitford, British-born American activist, author, and muckraker journalist,
1917-1996
Men fear death as if
unquestionably the greatest evil, and yet no man knows that it may not be the
greatest good. –William Mitford, English historian, 1744-1827
It is well for a man to stop once in a while t think of what sort of collection of mourners he is training for his final event. –Robert T. Morris, American Revolutionary politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence, financier, 1734-1806
God how the dead men
Grin by the wall
Watching the fun
Of the Victory Ball. –Alfred Nayes
Let us stamp the impress of eternity upon our lives. –
Eternal Recurrence, Freidrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, German philosopher,
1844-1900
Live that thou may desire to live again. –Nietzsche, Eternal
Recurrence
Not by wrath does one kill, but by laughter. –Nietzsche
I do not believe that it will always be popular to wear mourning for our friends, unless we fell a little doubtful about where they went. –Edgar Wilson “Bill” Nye, American humorist, 1850-1896
The muffled drum’s sad roll has beat
The soldiers last tattoo;
No more on life’s parade shall meet
The brave and fallen few.
On fame’s eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round,
The bivouac of the dead. –Theodore O’Hara, American Army officer, author,
and editor, 1820-1867
Even very young children need to be informed about dying.
Explain the concept of death very carefully to your child.
This will make threatening him with it much more effective. –Patrick
Jake O’Rourke, American humorist and journalist, 1947-
Guns are always the best move for a private suicide. They are more stylish looking than single edged razor blades and natural gas has got so expensive. Drugs are too chancy. You might miscalculate the dosage and just have a good time. –P.J. O’Rourke
Drink and dance and laugh and lie
Love, the reeling midnight through
For tomorrow we shall die!
(But, alas, we never do.) –Dorothy Rothschild Parker, American humorous writer
and critic, 1893-1967
He lies below, correct in cypress wood
And entertains the very best worms. –Parker
Many men on the point of an edifying death would be furious
if they were suddenly restored to health. –Cesare Pavese, Italian poet,
novelist, and translator, 1908-1950
He has gone over to the
majority. –Titus Petronius Niger, Roman courtier and satirist, 20-66
Every man meets his Waterloo at last. –Wendell Phillips,
American abolitionist, president of the American Antislavery Society
(1865-1870), 1811-1884
Fame can never make us lie down contentedly on a deathbed.
–Alexander Pope, English satirist, 1688-1744
Here I am, dying of a hundred good symptoms.
–Alexander Pope
One lives in the hope of
becoming a memory. –Antonio Porchia
I am going to seek a great perhaps; draw the curtain, the
farce is played. –François Rabelais, attributed, French writer, 1493?-1553?
The pain passes, but the
beauty remains. –Pierre August Renoir, French Impressionist painter, 1841-1919
Who never ate his bread in sorrow,
Who never spent the darksome hours|
Weeping, and watching for the morrow-
He knows you not, ye heavenly Powers. –Renoi
The main thing about being a hero is knowing when to die.
–William Penn Adair “Will” Rogers, American humorist, writer, and actor,
1879-1935
No man and no force can abolish memory. –Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, 33rd US president (1933-1945), 1882-1945
Yea, though I walk
through the valley of death I will fear no evil, for I am the meanest son of a
bitch in the valley. –Joel Rosenberg
And all the winds go sighing, for sweet things dying. –Christina Georgina Rossetti, English lyric poet, 1830-1894
Death is more universal
than life. Everyone dies but not
everyone lives. –Oliver Wolf Sacks, British neurologist and writer, 1933-
(Of Emerson) Waldo is one of those people who would be
enormously improved by death. –Saki,
aka H. R. Munro, Scottish author, 1870-1916
The only reason I might go to his funeral is to make
absolutely sure he’s dead. –Anthony Sampson, British journalist and author,
1926-
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the
interval. –George Santayana, American philosopher and poet, 1863-1952
If I die I’m sorry for
all the bad things I did to you. And
if I live I’m sorry for all the bad things I’m going to do to you. –Roy
Richard Scheider, American actor, 1935-
Martyrdom has always been a proof of the intensity, never
the correctness, of a belief. –Arthur Schinitzler, Austrian physicist,
dramatist, and novelist, 1862-1931
Is death the last sleep?
No, it is the final awakening. –Walter Scott, Scottish novelist and
poet, 1771-1832
One crowded hour of glorious life
Is worth an age without a name. –Walter Scott
While we are postponing, life speeds by. –Lucius Annaeus
Seneca, Roman writer, philosopher, and statesman, c. 5 BC – c. AD 65
Ah! The clock is always slow;
It’s later than you think –Robert William Service, British-born Canadian
poet and novelist, 1874-1958
It’s easy to cry that you’re beaten-and die;
It’s easy to crawfish and crawl;
But to fight and to fight when hope’s out of sight-
Why, that’s the best game of them all –Robert William Service
Master, I’ve done Thy bidding and the light is low in the
west
And the long, long shift is over…
Master, I’ve earned it-rest –Robert William Service
For you and I are past our dancing days. –
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet,
1564-1616
Farewell fair cruelty. –Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Sweets to the sweet; farewell. –Shakespeare, Hamlet
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. –Shakespeare, Macbeth
I have touched the highest point of my greatness;
And, from that full meridian of my glory,
I haste now to my setting: I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more. –Shakespeare
I shall laugh myself to death. –Shakespeare
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. –Shakespeare
Our revels now are ended.
These our actors
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rock behind. We are
such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. –Shakespeare
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.
– To a Skylark, Percy Bysshe
Shelley, English poet, 1792-1822
I read the obituaries every day just for the joy of not seeing my name there. –Neil Simon, American comic playwright, 1927-
Fear not death, for it is
your destiny. –Ben Sira
Since we have to speak well of the dead, let’s knock them
while they’re alive. –John Sloan, American painter, 1871-1951
Keep not your roses for my dead cold brow
The way is lonely, let me feel them now. –
If I Should Die Tonight, Arabella Smith, American poet, 1844-1916
Sure, everyone said,
“Socrates, what it the meaning of life?” or, “Socrates, how can I find
happiness?”, but did anyone say, “Socrates, hemlock is poisonous”?
–Socrates, moments before his death, Greek philosopher, 469-399 BC
Leave the field; thou art victorious. –Publius Papinus
Statius, Roman epic poet, 45?-96?
Your days are short here; this is the last of your springs.
And now in the serenity and quiet of this lovely place, touch the depths
of truth, feel the hem of heaven. You
will go away with old good friends. Don’t
forget when you leave why you came. –Adlai Ewing Stevenson, American liberal
politician, 1900-1965
He’s gone to Heaven, no doubt , but he won’t like God.
–Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson, English poet, essayist, and novelist,
1850-1894
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie;
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me:
“Here he lies, where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunters home from the hill”. –R.L. Stevenson, Requiem
Death is always a great pity of course but it’s not as
though the alternative were immortality. –Thomas
Straussler “Tom” Stoppard, British comic playwright, 1937-
Suicide is no more than a trick played on the calendar.
–Tom Stoppard
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words let
unsaid and deeds left undone. –Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe, American
writer, 1811-1896
After enough time has passed, all memories are beautiful.
–Johan August Strindberg, Swedish dramatist, 1849-1912
Death’s but an open door,
We move from room to room.
There is on life, no more,
No dying, and no tomb –Joseph Sweeny, aka Gordon Johnstone
If one comes to kill you, make haste and kill him first.
–The Talmud
The righteous are called living even when they are dead,
and the wicked are called dead even when they are living. –The Talmud
When a man appears before the throne of judgement, the
first question he will be asked is not, “Have you believed in God?” or
“Have prayed and observed the ritual?”-but “Have you dealt honorably with
your fellow man?”. –The Talmud
God’s finger touched him,
and he slept. – In Memoriam,
Alfred Tennyson, English poet, 1809-1892
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Because their words had forked no lightening they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it in its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. –Do
Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, Dylan Marlais Thomas, Welsh poet,
1914-1953
Once in Persia reigned a king|
Who upon his signet ring
Graved a maxim true and wise,
Which if held before the eyes
Gave him council at a glance
Fit for every chance and chance
Solemn words, and these are they:
“Even this shall pass away”. –Theodore Tilton, American writer
When I have died
Let there be but rejoicing
For all the sunlit beauties I have known;
Remembrance of friendship,
And the voicing
Of each new joy in radiant overtone!
Let there be but the memory
Of my dreaming,
Of star-domed vistas down the unborn years;
The memory of a faith
I have kept gleaming,
The broken benediction of my tears! – Requiem, Lucia Trent
Be careful of reading health books.
You may die of a misprint. –Mark Twain, American writer and humorist,
1835-1910
I admire him. I
freely confess it. And when the
time comes, I will buy a piece of the rope for a keepsake. –Twain
I am glad the old masters are all dead, and I only wish
they had died sooner. –Twain
(Asked for his thoughts on Heaven and Hell) I don’t want
to express an opinion…I have friends in both places. –Twain
I refused to attend the funeral, but I wrote a very nice
letter explaining that I approved of it. –Twain
Let us endeavor to live that when we come to die even the
undertaker will be sorry. –Twain
The report of my death was an exaggeration.
-Twain
When I reflect on the number of disagreeable people who I
know have gone to a better world, I am moved to lead a different life. –Twain
Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world. –Twain
Dear me! I
must be turning into a god. –Vespasian, Roman emperor (69-79), 9-79
(Of Capote’s death) Good career move –Gore Vidal,
American novelist and critic, 1925-
Death plucks my ears and says, “Live-I am coming!”
–Virgil, Roman poet, 70-19 BC
Thus shall you go to the stars. –Virgil
Time passes irrevocably. –Virgil
I should like to lie at your feet and die in your arms.
–François Marie Arouet Voltaire, French writer and philosopher, 1694-1778
Nothing is more annoying than to be obscurely hanged. –Voltaire
Life is better than death, I believe, if only because it is
less boring and because it has fresh peaches in it. –Alice Walker, American
writer, 1944-
Good fighter and good sportsman, fare thee well
So long! Wherever the fates take
you,
To what embittered field, to what quick death,
I know, as I know God, you will be true
To your last breath
To our dear land, where faith and honor dwell; -Edgar Wallace, English novelist
One may live as a conqueror, a king, or a magistrate; but
he must die as a man. –Daniel Webster, American statesman and orator,
1782-1852
He who fears death is really
afraid of life. –David Weinberg
(To Noel Coward on
hearing they were both on a Nazi blacklist), Just think whom we’d have been
seen dead with! -Rebecca West,
British author, 1892-1983
O Captain! My
captain! Our fearful trip
is done!
The ship has weathered every rock,
The prize we sought is won;
The port is near, the bells I hear, the
people all exulting,
while follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its
voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship
comes in with object won
I with mournful tread, walk the dock
my Captain lies, fallen, cold and dead
No more for him life’s stormy
conflicts, not victory, nor defeat, no
Charging like ceaseless clouds across
the sky
This dust was once the man,
Gentle, plain, just as resolute
Joyous we to launch out on
Trackless seas,
Fearless for unknown shores
My terminus near,
The clouds already closing in upon me
The voyage balk’d, the cause
disputed, lost
I gild my ships to Thee
This is thy hour, O Soul, thy freeflight
into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the
day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent
gazing, pondering the themes thout
lovest best,
Night, sleep, death and the stars
Now obey the cherished secret wish,
Embrace thy friends, leave all in order,
To port and hawsers tie no more
returning
Depart upon thy endless cruise, old sailor
The world, the race, the soul-in-space and
time the universe
All bound as is befitting each-all surely
going somewhere. –Walt Whitman, American poet, author, and editor, 1819-1892
(On hearing the cost of surgery) Ah, well, then, I suppose
that I shall have to die beyond my means. –Oscar
Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, Irish poet, playwright, novelist, and critic,
1854-1900
Biography lends to death a new terror. –Wilde
For he that lives more lives than one, more deaths than one
must die. –Wilde
One can survive anything nowadays, except death, and live
down anything except a good reputation. –Wilde
The wallpaper is killing me. One of us must go. –Wilde
Where there is sorrow there is holy ground. –Wilde
Sandwich: Really, Mr. Wilkes, I don’t know if you’ll
die on the gallows or of the pox.
John Wilkes: That depends, my lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your
mistress. English political reformer, 1727-1797
From out our crowded calendar
One day we pluck to give;
It is the day the Dying pause
To honor those who live. –Mclandburgh Wilson
Never murder a man when he’s busy committing suicide.
–Woodrow Wilson, 28th US president (1913-1921), 1856-1924
Death observes no ceremony.
–John Wine
I stayed up all night
playing poker with tarot cards; I got a full house and four people died.
–Stephen Wright, American comedian
When I die, I’m donating my body to science fiction.
–Stephen Wright
He mourns the dead who lives as they desire. –
Night Music, Edward Young, English poet, 1683-1765
My child,
In the life ahead of you, keep your capacity for faith and belief, but let your
judgement watch what you believe. Keep
your love of life, but throw away your fear of death.
Life must be loved or it is lost, but it should never be loved too well.
–from a letter written by an executed Yugoslav partisan to his unborn child
The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly deceived. -?
After a year in therapy, my psychiatrist said to me,
“Maybe life isn’t for everyone”.
A piece of churchyard fits everybody.
Cowards die many times before their death, the valiant
taste of death but once.
Death does not blow a trumpet.
Death is a once in a lifetime experience.
Death takes no bribes.
Death to all fanatics!
Do not resent growing old.
Many are denied the privilege.
Health is the slowest rate at which you can die.
He hath not lived that lives not after death.
Heroes die.
He that once is born, once must die.
He that would die well must always look for death.
He who dies for virtue does not perish.
I came real close to seeing Elvis, then my shovel broke.
If Dr. Kevorkian got sick and decided to kill himself,
would it be bad business if he went to someone else?
If I be hanged, I’ll choose my gallows.
Its not who you kill.
It’s what kind of cereal you eat out of their skull.
Never knock on Death’s door. Just ring the bell and run away.
He HATES that!
Shrouds have no pockets.
Six feet of earth make all men equal.
Small sorrows speak; great ones are silent.
The good die young-because they see no use in living if
you’ve got to be good.
The meek will inherit the earth. The rest of us will go to the stars.
The more you run over a dead cat, the flatter it gets.
There’s no dying by proxy.
The skull of life suddenly shone through its smile.
‘Tis better to buy your friends a small bouquet today
than a bushel of roses white and red to lay on his coffin after he’s dead.
(Tum enim vitae socia virtos, mortis comes gloria fuisset.)
Then would valor have been your companion in life, and honor your comrade in
death.
Heart, have no mercy on this house of bones.
Shake it with dancing, break it down with joy.
No man holds mortgage on it, it is your own;
To give, you sell at auction, to destroy.
When you are blind to moonlight on the bed;
When you are deaf to gravel on the pane,
Shall quavering caution from this house instead
Cluck forth at summer mischief in the lane?
All that delightful youth forbears to
spend
Molestful age inheirits and the ground
Will have us: therefore while
we’re young, my friend-
The Latin’s vulgar but the advice is sound.
Youth, have no pity; leave no farthing here
For age to invest in compromises and fear. –XXIX (1931)
Though silent, they cry aloud. (Dum tacent, clamant.)
–Inscription on a monument to Union soldiers in a New Orleans cemetery
Death was afraid of him because he had the heart of a lion.
–Arab
If you wish to drown, do not torture yourself with shallow
water. –Bulgarian
Who must die must die in the dark, even though he sells
candles. –Colombian
The only real equality is in the cemetery. –German
Drink and sing, an inch before us is black night.
–Japanese
(Ad finum esto fidelis.)
Be faithful to the end. -Latin
Live your own life, for you will die your own death.
–Latin
(Nascentes morimur, findique an origine pendet.)
We start to die when we are born, and the end depends on the beginning. –Latin
Every man goes down to his death bearing in his hands only
that which he has given away. –Persian
Be happy while you’re living, for you’re a long time dead. –Scottish
A
I don’t know. I
don’t know. –Pierre Abelard
In spite of it all, I am going to sleep. –Thomas B.
Aldrich
The strongest. –Alexander the Great, asked who was to
succeed him
A tomb now suffices for him for whom the whole world was
not sufficient. –Alexander the Great’s epitaph
What a beautiful day. –Alexander I
Keep the rats away now that I am all greased up. –Pietro Aretino, after receiving extreme unction
Go to the rising star for I am setting. –Marcus Aurelius,
asked who was to succeed him
Nothing but death. –Jane Austen, asked is she required anything
Oh God, here I go. –Max Baer
What’s the matter, Miller?
Do you want to live forever? –Norman Baesell, pilot of Glenn Miller’s
plane
Thou tremblest, Bailly
I am cold, my friend. –Jean Sylvain Bailly, mayor of Paris at the start of the
Revolution, to a spectator as he approached the guillotine
What is the time? –Barney Barnato, before jumping over
the side of a ship
I can’t sleep. –James M. Barrie
What’s the news? –Clarence Walker Barron, publisher of
the Wall Street Journal
Let me go, let me go. –Clara Barton
Pity me not: I die as a man of honor ought, in the
discharge of my duty. –Pierre du Terrail, Chevalier de Bayard, “the knight
without fear and without
reproach”, to the Genoese rebel
who offered him commiseration
Now comes the mystery. –Henry Ward Beecher
No, thanks for everything. –Max Beerbohm, asked if he’d
slept well
Friends applaud; the comedy is over. –Ludwig van
Beethoven
But I have to! So
little done, so much to do! –Alexander Graham Bell, asked not to hurry his
dictation
Everything has one wrong, my girl. –Arnold Bennett
Who’s there? –Billy the Kid, the Pat Garrett, his
killer
I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.
–Humphrey Bogart
O God, have pity on my soul. –Anne Boleyn
I am about to-or I am going to-die.
Either expression is used. –Dominique Bouhours, French grammarian
Oh, Lord, forgive the errata! –Andrew Bradford, publisher
of Philadelphia’s first newspaper
Oh, I am not going to die, am I? –Charlotte Bronte
No, but don’t keep me waiting longer than necessary.
–John Brown, asked on the scaffold if he was tired
…Alternately
recorded as…
I am ready any time. Do
not keep me waiting.
I have been dying for twenty years, now I am going to live.
–John Drummond Brown, or James D. Burns
Hullo. –Rupert Brooke
Beautiful. –Elizabeth Barrett Browning, asked how she
felt
Bad. –Hans Guido von Bulow, asked how he was feeling
I don’t feel good. –Luther Burbank
Dear Gerda, I thank you for every day we have been
together. –Ferruccio Busoni
I want to sleep now. Shall I sue for mercy? Come, come, no weakness. Let me be a man to the last. –Byron
I am still alive. –Caligula
This is not the end of me. –Henry Campbell-Bannerman
So this is death-well… -Thomas Carlyle
I hope so. –Carnegie, to his wife when she wished him a
good night
Adios, compadre! –Kit Carson
Doro, I can’t breath. –Caruso
My friend, I go from a corruptible crown to an
incorruptible. Remember. –Charles
I, on the scaffold, to Bishop Juxon
I am dying…I haven’t drunk champagne for a long time.
–Anton Chekov
The issue now is clear.
It is between light and darkness and everyone must choose his side. –G.K.
Chesterton
Oh, I am so bored with it all. –Winston Churchill
God, God, won’t somebody give me some more cartridges for
a last shot… -Ike Clanton, killed at the O.K. Corral
I have tried so hard to do it right. –Grover Cleveland
Well, let’s forget about it and play High Five.
I wish Johnny would come. –“Buffalo Bill” Cody
It’s all over now. –Samuel Colt
My time is come to die. –Confucius
Good night, my darlings.
I’ll see you in the morning. –Noel Coward
It doesn’t matter. I
figure I licked the Rock anyway. –Bernard Coy, shot attempting to escape
Alcatraz
Good-bye, everybody! –Hart Crane, jumping ship
That was a great game of golf, fellers. –Bing Crosby
You sons of bitches. Give
my love to my mother. –Francis, “Two Gun” Crowley, sentenced to death by
electrocution
I don’t want it. –Marie Curie, offered painkillers
That is surprising since I have been practicing all night.
–John Philpot Curran, told he was coughing with “more difficulty”
If you do kindness to your friends, you will be able to injure your enemies. Farewell. –Cyrus the Great
Please excuse me. I cannot take it. –Jefferson Davis,
offered medicine
I am not in the least afraid to die. –Charles Darwin
Then to this separation with joy and courage. –Rene
Descartes
Xeniades: How do you want to be buried?
Diogenes: Face-downward
Xeniades: Why?
Diogenes: Because everything will shortly be turned upside-down
The fog is rising. –Emily Dickinson
I had rather live, but I am not afraid to die. –Benjamin
Disraeli
(showing a new pistol to some friends)
Here’s one you’ve never seen before…
–Anthony J. Drexel
Death is a law and not a punishment.
Three things ought to console us for giving up life: the fiends whom we
have lost, the few persons worthy of being loved whom we leave behind us, and
finally the memory of our stupidities and the assurance that they are going to
stop. –John Baptiste Dubain
Adieu, my friends. I
go to my glory! –Isadora Duncan
Well, I fooled them all for five years. –Joseph Duveen, after living beyond all prognoses
It is very beautiful over there. –Thomas Alva Edison
Goodbye, General. I’m done. I’m too old. –Col. Henry Egbert, killed during the invasion of Manila
All my possessions for one moment of time. –Elizabeth I
Good-bye, my friend. –Ralph Waldo Emerson, to Bronson
Alcott
I am your deathless god, a mortal nevermore. –Empedocles
Now, farewell, remember all my works. –Epicurus
Dear God. –Erasmus
Wonderful, wonderful, this death. –William Etty
There are worse men here than me. –David Evans, surveying the crowd at his execution for murder
I’ve never felt better! –Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.
I'd hate to die twice. It's so boring. -Richard Feynman
This is it, chaps. –Paddy Finucane, RAF Pilot
This is the happiest moment of my life! –Adolf Fischer,
on being hanged for participation in the Haymarket Riot
F. Scott Fitzgerald: I’m going to Schawb’s to get some
ice cream.
Sheilah Graham: But you might miss the doctor-if it’s something sweet you
want, I’ve got some Hershey bars.
Fitzgerald: Good enough, they’ll be fine
I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed every
minute of it. –Errol Flynn
Maman. –Anatole France
That will be all; now I think I’ll go to sleep. –Henry
Clay Frick
Why fear death? It
is the most beautiful adventure in life. –Charles Frohman, drowned on the
Lusitania
Let me go. –Ferdinand Fuch
Yet is still moves. –Galileo
Oh, God. –Gandhi
Ask her to wait a moment.
I am almost done. –Carl Freidrich Gauss, informed his wife was dying
C’est bien. –Andre Gide
Courage, my lads! We
are as near to heaven by sea as by land. –Humphrey Gilbert, as his ship sank
Let’s do it. –Garry Gilmore, to the firing squad
More light! More
light! –Johann Wolfgang von Göethe
And I shall laugh a bitter laugh! –Nikolai Gogol
It is done. –Horace Greeley
Congestion…stopped. –Joseph Green, checking his own
pulse
Maria, hand me my pantaloons, if you please. –Fritz
Greene-Halleck, to his siste
Well, if it must be so. –Edvard Grieg
I shall look forward to a pleasant time. –John Hancock
I am the extent of about a tenth of a gnat’s eyebrow better. –Joel Chandler Harris
Well, I’ve had a happy life. –William Hazlitt
Cheer up, children, I’m all right. -Franz Joseph Hayden
It is nothing. –Henry IV, stabbed in the heart by
religious fanatic Ravaillac
Monks! Monks!
Monks! –Henry VIII
Turn up the lights, I don’t want to go home in the dark.
–O. Henry
Do you really think so?
Well, I will do my best. –Myron T. Herrick, informed by doctors he
would be “all right"
And now I am officially dead. –Abram S. Hewitt, removing
his oxygen tube
I am about to take my long last voyage, a great leap in the
dark. –Thomas Hobbes
Dammit! Put
them back on. This is funny. –Doc
Holliday, to someone trying to remove his boots
My days are past as a shadow that returns not. –Richard
Hooker
I am so happy, so happy. –Gerard Manley Hopkins
I’ll tell that story on the golden floor. –A. E.
Houseman, hearing a joke as he lay on his deathbed
And now in keeping with Chanel 40’s policy of always
bringing you the best of blood and guts, in living color, you’re about to see
another first-an attempted suicide. –Chris Hubbock, shooting herself on air
I strike my flag. –Isaac Hull
On the contrary. –Henrik Ibsen, replying to his wife who told him he was looking better
So here it is at last, the distinguished thing. –Henry
James
It’s so good to get home! –William James
This is it. I’m
going. I’m going. –Al Jolsen
Water! Water!
–Joan of Arc
Does anybody understand? –James Joyce
It is enough. –Immanual Kant
Don’t worry. It’s
not loaded. -Terry Kath, while
playing Russian roulette
I’m not afraid anymore. –George S. Kaufman
Such is life. –Ned Kelly
Let it roll! Let
it roll! –Jimmy Lee Laine, who died while playing piano
Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out. –Hugh Latimer, to Nicholas Ridley as he burned at the stake for heresy, October 16, 1555
I think its time for the morphine. –D.H. Lawrence
Why not? Yeah.
–Timothy Leary
Strike my tent! –Robert E. Lee
I am hot. –Leopold II
Am I still alive? –Julie de Lespinasse
I am happy. God bless you all. –Sinclair Lewis
Tristan! –Franz Liszt
Yes. –Martin Luther, asked if he still held his beliefs
Mozart. –Gustav Mahler
Let’s cool it, brothers. –Malcolm X
Too late for fruit, too soon for flowers. –Walter de la
Mare
Do you want to kill me? –John Marsh, to the bandits who
killed him
Go on, get out, last words are for fools who haven’t said
enough. -Karl Marx
My God, I have hoped in thee; I commit myself to thy hands.
–Mary, queen of Scots
I am ready. –Charles Matthews
Dying is a very dull, dreary affair, and my advice to you
is to have nothing to do with it. –Somerset
Maugham
Don’t worry, be happy. –Baba Meher
Tired, very tired. –Felix Mendelssohn
This is not very tragic.
I am happy. –Alice Meynell
My work is done. –John Stuart Mill, told there was no
hope of recovery
Why should talk to you?
I’ve just been talking to your boss. –Wilson Mizner, to an attendant
priest
There is no need to be frightened. –Jean Baptiste
Poquelin Moliere
It has all been very interesting. –Mary Wortley Montagu
Joy! –Hannah More
It is the end. Woe
is me! –Modest Moussorgsky
Did I not tell you that I was writing this for myself?
–Mozart, of his Requiem
But…but…Colonel… -Mussolini, to his assassin
It’s alright, it’s alright.
I only want heaven. –Cyrus McCormick
Snooks, will you please turn this way. I like to look at your face. –O. O. McIntyre, to his wife
I believe everything that I have written about immortality. –William Robert Nicoll
I am just going outside and may be some time. –Laurence
E. G. Oates, member of Scott’s expedition to the South Pole, who, believing
himself a burden, left the tent in a blizzard
It would be hard if such friends should part without
kissing. – Torlogh O‘Carolan, asking for a last whiskey
I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room - and goddamn it
- died in a hotel room. –Eugene O’Neill
Excuse my dust. –Dorothy Parker’s epitaph
Get my swan costume ready. –Anna Pavlova
Keep firing. –Charles Peguy
See here, William. See here. I don’t want any of your damned lies. How do I look? Am I getting any better? The truth now…All right, William. When you go to church tomorrow-pray for me, too. –Boies Penrose, to his valet
Murder! –Spencer Perceval, as he was assassinated
Stupid country , where they do not even know how to hang.
–Pestel, Russian revolutionary, after the rope broke on the fist try
God, I’m bored. –John Philby
Drink to me. –Pablo Picasso
I love you Sarah. For all eternity, I love you. –James K. Polk, to his wife
That is right, I have now done. –Joseph Priestly, making
a few corrections to his work
Farewell, my friends. –Pushkin, to his books
I go to seek the great perhaps. –Francois Rabelais,
attirbuted
Happy. –Sanzio Raphael
I look like a Moor. –Maurice Ravel, seeing his bandaged
head in a mirror
We shall meet again. –Jeanne Recamier
Cut her loose, Doc! –Frederic Remington, informed he
would require an appendectomy
I am still progressing. –Pierre Auguste Renoir
Don’t you think I’ll be back? –Rittmeister Manfred
Freiherr von Richtofen, aka, The Red Baron, to his mechanic
You can keep the things of bronze and stone and give me one man to remember me once a year. –Damon Runyon
Dear World: I am leaving because I am bored. –George
Sanders, excerpted from his suicide note
The dream has been short, but it has been fine. –Maurice
de Saxe
Peter, take good care of my horse. –Winfield Scott
Did we do it? –Henry Segrave, killed trying to break the
water speed record
Sister, you’re trying to keep me alive as an old
curiosity. But I’m done, I’m
finished. I’m going to die.
–George Bernard Shaw, to his nurse
Thy necessity is greater than mine.
I do humbly entreat the Lord with trembling heart that the pangs of death
may not be so grievous as to take away my understanding.
I would not change my joy for the empire of the world. –Phillip Sidney, giving
his water bottle to another wounded solide
I believe we must adjourn the meeting –Adam Smith
Beautifully done. –Stanley Spencer, to the nurse who had
given him an injection
I’ve lots to say to her, not just something.
But not now. I’m sure to get it all mixed up! –Stanislavsky, asked if
he wished to send his sister a message
Now it has come. –Laurence Sterne
My head, my head! –Robert Louis Stevenson
Make the world better. –Lucy Stone
If this is dying, I don’t think much of it.
–Lyton Strachey
I will whatever happens. –Johann Strauss, advised to go
to bed
I am dying like a poisoned rat in a hole. I am what I am! I am what I am! –Jonathan Swift
T
Never has death been frightened away by screaming. –Tamburlane,
better known to history as Genghis Kahn
I want-I want, oh, you know, I want that stuff of life!
–Bayard Taylor
Moose…Indian… -Henry David Thoreau
God bless…God damn… -James Thurber
I feel here that this time they have succeeded. –Leon
Trotsky, on the way to the hospital
I did not mean to be killed today. –de Turenne, dying on the field at the Battle of Salzbach
Tell the boys I’m coming home. –Wilbur Underhill
Don’t pull down the blinds!
I feel fine. I want the
sunlight to greet me. –Rudolph Valentino
…Alternately recorded as…
Don’t worry
chief, it’ll be alright.
In the name of God, let me die in peace! –François Marie Arouet Voltaire, asked if he recognized Christ’s divinity
I still live. –Daniel Webster
Go away…I’m alright. –H.G. Wells, to his nurse
I told you so, dammit! –H.G. Wells’ epitaph
I plead the Fifth Amendment. –Walter White, asked what he
thought of his daughter’s outfit
I am dying, as I have lived, beyond my means. –Oscar
Wilde, calling for champagne
Tell them I’ve had a wonderful life. –Ludwig
Wittgenstein
Then I die happy. –James Wolfe, hearing of his victory at Quebec
Splendid, the finale just a little too fast. –Eugene Ysaye, listening to his own Fourth Sonata
The show looks good, the show looks good. –Florence
Ziegfeld
I am going…perhaps it is for the best. -?
Films:
Oh, I ain’t worried, Miss.
Gave myself up for dead back when we started. –Humphrey Bogart, The
African Queen
Closed on Account of a lot of Death. –Alice’s Restaurant
We live in the trenches out there. We fight. We try
not to be killed, but sometimes we are-that’s all. –Lew Ayres, All Quiet on the Western Front
When it comes to dying for your country, it’s better not
to die at all. -Lew Ayres, All Quiet on
the Western Front
Have you tried talking to a corpse?
He’s boring. –An American Werewolf in Paris
I was suicidal, as a matter of fact, and would have killed
myself, but I was in analysis with a strict Freudian, and, if you kill yourself,
they make you pay for the sessions you miss. –Woody Allen, Annie
Hall
You’ve got no right to call me a murderer.
You have a right to kill me-you have the right to do that-but you have no
right to judge me. –Marlon Brando, Apocalypse
Now
No, I’m fine. In
fact, considering I’ve been dead for 16 years, I’m in remarkable health.
-Howard St. John, Born Yesterday
Perhaps it’s better if I live in your heart where the
world can’t see me. If I am dead,
there’ll be no stain our love. -Greta Garbo, Camille
Is it a crime to want to be remembered?
No. The pharaohs built the pyramids
for that reason. –Deborah Kerr, The Chalk Garden
How strangely awake I feel, as if living had just been a
long dream-someone else’s dream, now finished at last… -Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra
You know, it’s quite possible, Octavian, that when you
die, you will die without ever having been alive. -Richard Burton, Cleopatra
There has never been such a silence. –Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra
Suicide attempts are Frank’s department. –Grace Kelly, The
Country Girl
He’s dead!
Why does this always happen to me! –The Creeper
We’re coming to a tree in the middle of the road.
We’re taking it. If you’re killed, I’ll be free.
If I’m killed, it doesn’t really matter. If we both die, good riddance. –Bette Davis, Dangerous
They’re murderers. I
know the law says they’re not because I’m still alive, but that’s not
their fault. -Spencer Tracy, Fury
Now you will never be tired again. Come, Lucia. Come,
my dear. –Rex Harrison, The Ghost and
Mrs. Muir
You can’t discharge me.
I’m my own master for the first time on my life.
You can’t discharge me. I’m
sick. I’m going to die.
Do you understand? I’m
going to die and nobody can do anything to me anymore. -Lionel Barrymore, Grand Hotel
Believe me, if a man doesn’t know death, he doesn’t
know life. -Lionel Barrymore, Grand Hotel
I’ve got to have more steps. I need more steps. I’ve
got to get higher. Higher. -William
Powell’s last words, The Great Ziegfeld
I’m an old man. My
life is almost over. Here, with the
sunset in my face, it thrills me to see these young people marching on.
Let us drink to youth-to innocent joyous youth. –Charles Coburn. –The
Green Years
You know, you never really feel anybody suffering.
You only feel their death. -Art Carney, Harry
and Tonto
I do not want to die alone. -Richard Todd, The
Hasty Heart
Death ends a life, but it does not end a relationship,
which struggles on in the survivor’s mind toward some resolution it may never
find. -Gene Hackman, I Never Sang for my
Father
Why should we weep for him?
Because he’s dead? Because he wept enough for himself during his
lifetime? –Gene Kelly, Inherit the Wind
Well, from all I’ve heard about heaven, it seems to be a
pretty unbusinesslike place. They
could probably use a good man like me. -William Powell, Life with Father
It doesn’t seem a sad death.
Oh, but it’s not, Sister. It
happens in the bright daylight, the sun flooding everything in a light of pure
gold. –Kirk Douglas, Lust for Life
The drama is done. All
have departed away. -Richard Basehart, Moby Dick
Oh, by the way, how was my funeral? -Irene Dunn, My
Favorite Wife
Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like at this time to announce
that I will be retiring from this program in two weeks time because of poor
ratings. Since this show was the
only thing going for me I had in my life, I have decided to ill myself.
I’m going to blow my brains out right on this program a week from
today. –Peter Finch, Networ
I don’t mind being killed, but I resent hearing it from a
character whose head comes to a point. -Groucho Marx, A Night in Casablanca
Good-bye. Remember
me as someone who made you very happy. I
have enjoyed everything. There is
only one thing left to enjoy-your river that smiles outside of my window.
It is easy to die when the heart is full of gratitude. -Troy Brown, Nothing
Sacred
Oh, let me alone. I
wish I really could die, go someplace by myself and-and die alone, like an
elephant. –Carole Lombard, Nothing
Sacred
You’re dead on this waterfront
and every waterfront from Boston to New Orleans.
You don’t drive a truck or a cab.
You don’t push a baggage rack. You
don’t work no place. You’re
dead. –Lee J. Cobb, On the Waterfront
Be seated. Now
I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.
He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.
Men, all this stuff you heard about America not wanting to fight, wanting
to stay out of the war, is a lot of horse-dung.
Americans, traditionally, love to fight.
All real Americans love the sting of battle.
When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble-shooter, the
fastest runner, the big league ballplayer, the toughest boxer.
Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser.
Americans play to win all the time.
I wouldn’t give a hoot in hell for as man who lost and laughed.
That’s why Americans have never lost—and never will lose-a war,
because the very thought of losing is hateful to Americans. –George C. Scott, Patton
Most people die of a sort of creepy common sense and
discover too late that the only things one never regrets are one’s mistakes.
–George Sanders, The Picture of Dorian
Gray
When a man says he has exhausted life, you may be sure life
has exhausted him. –George Sanders, The
Picture of Dorian Gray
Oh, if you really want to be refined you have to be dead.
There’s no one so dignified as a mummy. -Greer Garson, Pride
and Prejudice
Where are you going?
To the river.
What for?
To make a hole in it. –David Tree and Wendy Hiller, Pygmalion
He’ll regret it to his dying day-if ever he lives that
long. –Victor McLaglen, The Quiet Man
No face on this one at all.
Oh, look. There’s another
one smiling. It’s monstrous of
them to die smiling. It’s
inhuman. –Peter Ustinov, Quo Vadis
Petronius? Dead?
By his own hand? I don’t
believe it…I shall never forgive him for this.
Never. Without my
permission? It’s rebellion! It’s blasphemy! –Peter Ustinov, Quo Vadis
You shoulda let ‘em kill me
cause I’m gonna kill you. I’ll
catch up with you. I don’t know
when, but I’ll catch up. And
every time you turn around, expect to see me, because one time you’ll turn
around and I’ll be there. I’ll
kill you, Matt. –John Wayne, Red River
Take off the red shoes. -Moira Shearer’s dying words, The
Red Shoes
My strength justifies me, Mr. Van Weyden-the fact that I
can kill you or let you live as I choose, the fact that I control the destinies
of all on board this ship, the fact that it is my will and my will alone that
rules here. That’s justification
enough. –Edward G. Robinson, The Sea Wol
Get busy living or get busy dying. –Morgan Freeman, The
Shawshank Redemption
Life is a thief…Life steals everything. -Katherine
Hepburn, Suddenly, Last Summer
Cancel my appointments. -Sylvia Sidney’s last words, Summer
Wishes, Winter Dreams
Now that was impertinent of him-to die with his rent
unpaid. –Basil Rathbone, A Tale of Two
Cities
Heathcliff, can you see the crag over there where our
castle is? I’ll wait for you
until you come. -Merle Oberon’s dying words, Wuthering
Heights