In this section, you'll find quotations and proverbs about the following topics: life, birth, ageing, childhood, growing up, youth, teen quotes, graduation, old age, aging, death, die, dying, dead, kill, killing, last words, epitaphs, monuments, graves, graveyard, graveyards, cemeteries, funeral, funerals, mortal, mortality, immortal, immortality, Chaucer, Raleigh, and Donne. Check out our main page for more high quality quotes on other subjects and categories.
Young men may die, old men must. Proverb
Life is half spent before we know what it is. Proverb
We are always doing something for posterity, but I would fain see posterity do something for us. J. Addison, The Spectator, No. 583, 20. Aug. 1714
To save your world you asked this man to die: Would this man, could he see you now, ask why?W. H. Auden, Epitaph for an Unknown Soldier
Abattoir, n. A place where cattle slaughter kine. It is commonly placed at some distance from the haunts of our species, in order that they who devour the flesh may not be shocked by the sight of the blood. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Abattoir
Bald, adj. Destitute of hair from hereditary or accidental causes - never from age. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Bald
Birth, n. The first and direst of all disasters. As to the nature of it there appears to be no uniformity. Castor and Pollux were born from the egg. Pallas came out of a skull. Galatea was once a block of stone, Peresilis, who wrote in the tenth century, avers that he grew up out of the ground where a priest had spilled holy water. It is known that Arimaxus was derived from a hole in the earth, made by a stroke of lightning. Leucomedon was the son of a cavern in Mount Aetna, and I have myself seen a man come out of a wine cellar. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Birth
Cemetery, n. An isolated suburban spot where mourners match lies, poets write at a target and stone-cutters spell for a wager. [...] Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Cemetery
Fork, n. An instrument used chiefly for the purpose of putting dead animals into the mouth. [...] Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Fork
Fratricide, n. The act of killing a jackass for meat. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Fratricide
Longevity, n. Uncommon extension of the fear of death. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Longevity
Mortality, n. The part of immortality that we know about. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Mortality
Preference, n. A sentiment or frame of mind, induced by the erroneous belief that one thing is better than another.
An ancient philosopher, expounding his conviction that life is no better than death, was asked by a disciple why, then, he did not die. "Because," he replied, "death is no better than life."
It is longer. Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Preference
Unction, n. An oiling or greasing. The rite of extreme unction consists in touching with oil consecrated by a bishop several parts of the body of one engaged in dying. Marbury relates that after the rite had been administered to a certain wicked English nobleman it was discovered that the oil had not been properly consecrated and no other could be obtained. When informed of this the sick man said in anger: "Then I'll be damned if I die!"
"My son," said the priest, "that is what we fear." Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Unction
Worms'-Meat, n. The finished product of which we are the raw material. The contents of the Taj Mahal, the Tombeau Napoleon and the Grantarium. [...] Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce, The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary, s. v. Worms'-Meat
Just when we are safest, there's a sunset-touch,R. Browning, Bishop Blougram's Apology
And if I laugh at any mortal thing, 'Tis that I may not weep.G. G. Byron, 6th Baron, Don Juan, Canto 4, 4
If gold ruste, what shal iren do?G. Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, Prologue, 500
I prefer old age to the alternative. M. Chevalier (Remark, 1962)
The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I.S. T. Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Part 4, 236
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. J. Donne, Devotions, 17
Here lies my wife: Here let her lie! Now she's at rest, and so am I.J. Dryden, Epitaph intended for Dryden's Wife
This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper.T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men
And the wind shall say "Here were decent godless people; Their only monument the asphalt road And a thousand lost golf balls."T. S. Eliot, The Rock
Birth, and copulation, and death, That's all the facts when you come to brass tacks.T. S. Eliot, Sweeney Agonistes, Fragment of an Agon
We become immortal, for we learn that time and space are relations of matter; that with a perception of truth or a virtuous will they have no affinity. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, Idealism, VI, 4
The boy is a Greek; the youth, romantic; the adult, reflective. Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar
Si jeunesse savait; si vieillesse pouvait. [If only youth knew; if only age could.] H. Estienne, Les Prémices
Spare all I have, and take my life. G. Farquhar, The Beaux' Stratagem, Act 5, Scene 2
Unborn TOMORROW, and dead YESTERDAY, Why fret about them if TODAY be sweet!O. Khayyám, Rubáiyát, 37 (Translated by E. Fitzgerald)
The man recovered of the bite, The dog it was that died.O. Goldsmith, Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog
Here lies David Garrick, describe me, who can, An abridgement of all that was pleasant in a man.O. Goldsmith, Retaliation
I had written to Aunt Maud, Who was on a trip abroad, When I heard she'd died of cramp Just too late to save the stamp.H. Graham, Ruthless Rhymes, Mr Jones
A Man's life of any worth is a continual allegory, and very few eyes can see the Mystery of his life - a life like the scriptures, figurative - which such people can no more make out than they can the hebrew Bible. Lord Byron cuts a figure - but he is not figurative - Shakespeare led a life of Allegory: his works are the comments on it. J. Keats, Letter to George and Georgiana Keats, 14 Feb. 1819
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in passing, Only a signal shown and a distant voice in the darkness; So on the ocean of life we pass and speak one another, Only a look and a voice, then darkness again and a silence.H. W. Longfellow, Tales of a Wayside Inn, 3, The Theologian's Tale
When I am dead and opened, you shall find 'Calais' lying in my heart. Mary Tudor, Queen of England, Holinshed's Chronicles, 3, 1160
Die, my dear Doctor, that's the last thing I shall do! H. J. T. Palmerston, 3rd Viscount of (Last words, attributed)
The teeming brain of childhood requires no external world of incident to occupy or amuse it; [...] E. A. Poe, William Wilson
In the deepest slumber - no! In delirium - no! In a swoon - no! In death - no! even in the grave all is not lost. E. A. Poe, The Pit and the Pendulum
There are two bodies - the rudimental and the complete; corresponding with the two conditions of the worm and the butterfly. What we call "death", is but the painful metamorphosis. E. A. Poe, Mesmeric Revelation
Je m'en vais chercher un grand peut-ętre. [I am going in search of a great perhaps.] F. Rabelais (Last words, attributed)
So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lies. Sir W. Raleigh (On laying his head on the block)
For when the one Great Scorer comes To write against your name, He marks - not that you won or lost - But how you played the game.G. Rice, Alumnus Football
Shortly after this the cruel Queen died and a post-mortem examination revealed the word 'CALLOUS' engraved on her heart. W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman, 1066 And All That, Ch. 32
All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.W. Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2, 7, 139
Golden lads and girls all must, As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.W. Shakespeare, Cymbeline, 4, 2, 259
I do not set my life at a pin's fee; And for my soul, what can it do to that, Being a thing immortal as itself?W. Shakespeare, Hamlet, 1, 4, 65
Alas, poor Yorick!W. Shakespeare, Hamlet, 5, 1, 179
Cowards die many times before their deaths: The valiant never taste of death but once.W. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 2, 2, 32
The evil that men do lives afther them; The good is oft interred with their bones.W. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, 3, 2, 73
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.W. Shakespeare, King John, 3, 4, 108
Men must endure Their going hence, even as their coming hither: Ripeness is all.W. Shakespeare, King Lear, 5, 2, 9
More are men's ends mark'd than their lives before, The setting sun, and music at the close, As the last taste of sweets, is sweetest last, Writ in remembrance more than things lost past.W. Shakespeare, Richard the Second, 2, 1, 11
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, So do our minutes hasten to their end.W. Shakespeare, Sonnet 60
Call no man happy until he dies; he is at best fortunate. Solon, Herodotus, Histories, 1, 32
Sleep after toil, port after stormy seas, Ease after war, death after life does greatly please.E. Spenser, The Fairie Queen, Book 1, Canto 9, 40
From too much love of living, From hope and fear set free, We thank with brief thanksgiving Whatever gods may be That no life lives for ever; That dead men rise up never; That even the weariest river Winds somewhere safe to sea.A. C. Swinburne, The Garden of Proserpine
The days darken round me, and the years, Among new men, strange faces, other minds.A. Tennyson, 1st Baron, Idylls of the King, The Passing of Arthur, 405
Men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things.A. Tennyson, 1st Baron, In Memoriam A. H. H., Prologue
For we are born in other's pain, And perish in our own.F. Thompson, Daisy
Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. M. Twain (S. Langhorne Clemens), Cable to the Associated Press
He first deceased; she for a little tried To live without him, liked it not, and died.Sir H. Wotton, Upon the Death of Sir Albertus Morton's wife
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