Quotes About Mortality

Not to be born surpasses thought and speech. The second best is to have seen the light and then go back quickly whence we came

A man's anger can never age and fade away, not until he dies. The dead alone feel no pain.

I will suffer nothing as great as death without glory.

Show me a man who longs to live a day beyond his time who turns his back on a decent length of life, I'll show the world a man who clings to folly.

For e'en the bravest spirits run away When they perceive death pressing on life's heels.

I could not turn away from anyone Like you, a stranger, or refuse to help him. I know well, being mortal, that my claim Upon the future is no more than yours.

We begin in the dark and birth is the death of us

Look and learn all citizens of Thebes. This is Oedipus. He, who read the famous riddle, and we hailed chief of men, All envied his power, glory, and good fortune. Now upon his head the sea of disaster crashes down. Mortality is man's burden. Keep your eyes fixed on your last day. Call no man happy until he reaches it, and finds rest from suffering.

It is the dead Not the living, who make the longest demands: We die for ever...

Alas for the seed of man.

Though he has watched a decent age pass by, A man will sometimes still desire the world. I swear I see no wisdom in that man. The endless hours pile up a drift of pain More unrelieved each day; and as for pleasure, When he is sunken in excessive age, You will not see his pleasure anywhere. - Choral Poem between Scenes V & VI, Oedipus at Colonus

CREON: Can't you see? If a man could wail his own dirge before he dies, he'd never finish.

None of your power follows you through life.

What is it that goes on four feet, three feet and two feet . . . and is most feeble when it walks on four?" His answer was "man—on all fours as a baby, on two feet at maturity, on three as an old man with a stick.

Therefore, while our eyes wait to see the destined final day, we must call no one happy who is of mortal race, until he has crossed life's border, free from pain.

O the generations of men92 the dying generations—adding the total of all your lives I find they come to nothing

Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day, count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.

A man's anger can never age and fade away, not until he dies. The dead alone feel no pain.

Mortal man must always look to his ending. And none can be called happy until that day when he carries his happiness down to the grave in peace. - Sophocles

O the generations of men the dying generations—adding the total of all your lives I find they come to nothing

I, with my eyes, how could I look my father in the eyes when I go down to death?

até o dia fatal de cerrarmos os olhos não devemos dizer que um mortal foi feliz de verdade antes de ele cruzar as fronteiras da vida inconstante sem jamais ter provado o sabor de qualquer sofrimento!

Ymmärrä, ettei yksikään kuolevaisista osaa nähdä silmillään.

Filho caríssimo de Egeu: somente os deuses fogem aos males da velhice e aos da morte; o tempo onipotente abate tudo mais; decai a força da terra, decai o corpo; a lealdade finda e floresce a perfídia e tanto entre os amigos quanto entre as cidades não prevalece para sempre o mesmo ânimo; agora para uns, amanhã para outros, cede a doçura seu lugar ao amargor e depois volta a transformar-se em amizade