Quotes About Mortality

Let death surprise rue when it will, and where it will, I may be a happy man, nevertheless. For he is a happy man, who in his lifetime dealeth unto himself a happy lot and portion. A happy lot and portion is, good inclinations of the soul, good desires, good actions.

whether half frozen or well warm; whether only slumbering, or after a full sleep; whether discommended or commended thou do thy duty: or whether dying or doing somewhat else; for that also "to die," must among the rest be reckoned as one of the duties and actions of our lives.

Cuántos de los agasajados con muchos himnos están ya entregados al olvido! ¡Cuántos de los que hicieron esos himnos hace tiempo que están ausentes!

Antes de llevar a cabo cualquier acto, pregúntate: ¿para qué me servirá? ¿Me arrepentiré? Dentro de poco ya no existiré, todo habrá desaparecido para mí. ¿Qué puedo esperar más, si mi acto presente es digno de un ser inteligente, sociable y sometido a la misma ley de Dios?

Think of the universal substance, of which thou hast a very small portion; and of universal time, of which a short and indivisible interval has been assigned to thee; and of that which is fixed by destiny, and how small a part of it thou art.

17. Not to live as if you had endless years ahead of you. Death overshadows you. While you're alive and able—be good.

Consider thyself to be dead, and to have completed thy life up to the present time; and live according to nature the remainder which is allowed thee.

Es preciso, pues, aprovechar el tiempo, y ello no solo porque cada instante es un paso más que damos hacia la muerte, sino por el hecho de que antes de morir perdemos la capacidad de concebir las cosas y de prestarles la atención que merecen.

Let a glance at thyself bring to mind one of the Caesars. Then let the thought strike thee: where are they now? Nowhere, or none can say where. For thus shalt thou habitually look upon human things as mere smoke and as naught; and more than ever so, if thou bethink thee that what has once changed will exist no more throughout eternity. Why strive then and strain?

iii. that if you were suddenly lifted up and could see life and its variety from a vast height, and at the same time all the things around you, in the sky and beyond it, you'd see how pointless it is. And no matter how often you saw it, it would be the same: the same life forms, the same life span. Arrogance … about this?

Look at the universe of which you are a part. Realize that you exist within its constant flux, that your days are numbered, and that if you don't clear the clouds from your mind now, you may never have another chance.

Considerando que é possível tu deixares esta vida a qualquer momento, administra cada ato, palavra e pensamento em consonância com isso.

In this infinity then what is the difference between him who lives three days and him who lives three generations? Always

Before long, either ashes or a skeleton, and either just a name or not even that

4. Remember how long you've been putting this off, how many extensions the gods gave you, and you didn't use them. At some point you have to recognize what world it is that you belong to; what power rules it and from what source you spring; that there is a limit to the time assigned you, and if you don't use it to free yourself it will be gone and will never return.

Consider each individual thing you do and ask yourself whether to lose it through death makes death itself any cause for fear.

Alexander the Great and his mule driver both died and the same thing happened to both. They were absorbed alike into the life force of the world, or dissolved alike into atoms.

hay que ver siempre lo humano como flor de un día e inconsistente, ayer era una mucosidad, mañana será momia y cenizas. Ese

with food and drink and magic spells Seeking some novel way to frustrate death.

Avanzo por los caminos que son conformes a la naturaleza hasta, tras caer, tomar un descanso; expiro en el aire de donde respiro cada día y caigo en la tierra de donde mi padre aportó su pequeña semilla, mi madre su pequeña cantidad de sangre[279], la nodriza su pequeña cantidad de leche, de donde me nutro y riego cada día durante tantos años, aquello que me lleva como caminante y que malgasto para mi propio perjuicio en tantas cosas.

Life for each of us is a mere moment, and this life of yours is nearly over, while you still show yourself no honour, but let your own welfare depend on other people's souls.

That men of a certain type should behave as they do is inevitable. To wish it otherwise were to wish the fig-tree would not yield its juice. In any case, remember that in a very little while both you and he will be dead, and your very names will quickly be forgotten.

On the occasion of every act ask thyself, How is this with respect to me? Shall I repent of it? A little time and I am dead, and all is gone. What more do I seek, if what I am now doing is work of an intelligent living being, and a social being, and one who is under the same law with God?

How quickly all things disappear, in the universe the bodies themselves, but in time the remembrance of them; what is the nature of all sensible things, and particularly those which attract with the bait of pleasure or terrify by pain, or are noised abroad by vapoury fame; how worthless, and contemptible, and sordid, and perishable, and dead they are—all this it is the part of the intellectual faculty to observe. To