Quotes About Mortality

Reality itself is mortal

Of course I am old now, but there is no changing that, except by death. At least I have this day, and these days.

Life—what was it? So deep and important and full of feeling, so crucial, then suddenly just a blink, a mayfly moment and gone. Nothing really, in the grander scheme; and no grander scheme either. No. A vertiginous perch, the bedside chair in a hospice.

And now India had paid the price. More people had died in this heat wave than in the entirety of the First World War, and all in a single week and in a single region of the world. The stain of such a crime would never go away, it would remain forever.

You walk down the street and people are just graveyards, really.

No había dos clases de vida, como ella había creído en aquella noche embriagada: la vida en reposo y la vida en movimiento. Sólo existía la vida, que crecía hacia su encuentro con la muerte.

What if one were up there, drifting about among suns and feeling the tails of comets fan one's forehead! How small the earth was and how puny the people; a Norway of two million provincial souls and a mortgage bank to help feed them! What was life worth at such a rate? You elbowed yourself ahead in the sweat of your face for a few mortal years, only to perish all the same, all the same!

I was telling my wife a story about a rich man who was curious, too. He shot himself just to find out what comes after death. Ha, ha, ha! That's the height of curiosity, isn't it? Shooting yourself to find out what comes after death!

Para qué preocuparse de lo que comería, de lo que bebería, de lo que introduciría en la miserable caja de gusanos, que se llamaba mi cuerpo terrestre?

God preserve me from growing wise! Yes, I intend to mumble toothlessly to my deathbed bystanders: God preserve me from growing wise!

A ti, ?ovje?e, sad razmišljam o tebi. Od svega živoga na tom svijetu, ti si ro?en gotovo ni za šta. Ti budeš dobar ili zao, postojiš bez nekog zamišljenog cilja. Stižeš iz magle i vra?aš se u nju, tako si silno nesavršen.

Wergeland] slapp å bli en olding som satt og gjorde seg motbydelig for sine omgivelser ved sin elde. En gave var det til ham fra gudene, en nåde var det mot ham av gudene. Og heller ikke gled han nedover til den slappelse i sin produksjon som kanskje ville føre til en St. Olav eller en annen fin anerkjennelse, dertil ble han iallfall ikke gammel nok; nei han døde ung. ("Wergeland", tale på Henrik Wergelands hundreårsdag 17. juni 1908)

Wenn man noch nicht das Leben kennt, wie sollte man den Tod kennen.

Chi ha contemplato una volta con i propri occhi la bellezza della natura non è destinato alla morte come pensa Platen, bensì alla natura stessa, di cui ha intravisto le meraviglie.

And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong. To measure yourself at least once. To find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions. Facing the blind death stone alone, with nothing to help you but your hands and your own head.

So, what do you do, Ellie?" he asked. Well, previously, I held a position on death row, but lately I've been a vampire's plaything. Soon I'll be sacrificed so the Soul Reaper and the Enemy of Old can make babies.

It's not that I don't understand why a person has to die, but rather, I don't understand why a person has to live, Baron Béla Wenckheim pondered

J'ai médité la mort. Je me suis imaginé n'existant pas, gardant le regret de n'exister pas, emportant dans mon cercueil le souvenir de la vie, comme une bague reste au doigt d'un cadavre.

but there is no doubt they intend to kill us as dead as possible in a short time. - said the Wizard As dead as poss'ble would be pretty dead, wouldn't it? asked Dorothy. from Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz

There is no doubt they intend to kill us as dead as possible in a short time. said the Wizard As dead as poss'ble would be pretty dead, wouldn't it? asked Dorothy.

Their feathers make soft beds,' asserted Pessim. 'And my skin would make excellent drumheads,' retorted the Ork. 'Nevertheless, a plucked bird or a skinned Ork would be of no value to himself, so we needn't brag of our usefulness after we are dead. But for the sake of argument, friend Pessim, I'd like to know what good YOU would be, were you not alive?

The nomes are immortal; that is, they do not perish, as mortals do, unless they happen to come in contact with an egg. If an egg touches them—either the outer shell or the inside of the egg—the nomes lose their charm of perpetual life and thereafter are liable to die through accident or old age, just as all humans are.

Why hasn't anybody seen a mermaid and lived? asked Trot again. 'Cause mermaids is fairies, an' ain't meant to be seen by us mortal folk, replied Cap'n Bill. But if anyone happens to see 'em, what then, Cap'n? Then, he answered, slowly wagging his head, the mermaids give 'em a smile an' a wink, an' they dive into the water an' gets drownded.

How was it that someone who loved life could be unafraid to die?