Quotes About Mortality

The dead know only one thing, it is better to be alive

You have become like us,disgraced and mortal.

Love, too, a leveler, a dying all its own, the parts left behind not to be replaced, a loss ongoing, and every day increased, like rising in the night, at 3:00 am, to watch the snow or the dead leaf fall, the rings around the streetlight in the rain, and then the rain, the red fist in the heart opening and closing almost without me. —Stanley Plumly, from "Variation on a Line from Elizabeth Bishop's 'Five Flights Up'," Poetry(June 2015)

One only makes books in order to keep in touch with one's fellows after one has ceased to breath, and thus to defend oneself against the inexorable fate of all that lives - transitoriness and oblivion.

Hemen ÅŸöyle düÅŸündüm, eÄŸer bir avans veriyorlarsa temiz bir iÅŸ olmal?, bu ateÅŸli arazilerde mezar taÅŸlar?n?n bizdekinden üç kat h?zl? çoÄŸald???n? biliyordum, ama insan genç olunca ateÅŸin ve ölümün her zaman baÅŸkalar?na s?çrayaca??n? düÅŸünür.

Life is servitude if we lack the freedom to die.

Pero incluso con sus favoritos, el destino no siempre se muestra magnánimo. Rara vez conceden los dioses a los mortales más de una hazaña única e imperecedera.

The most just death is that which is most willed. Our lives depend on the will of others, but death on ourselves alone. There is nothing to which we should apply ourselves more than this. Reputation has no place here and it is folly to think of it. Life is servitude if we lack the freedom to die.

savez-vous ce que c'est que de voir mourir quelqu'un ? Y avez-vous déjà assisté ? Avez-vous vu comment le corps se recroqueville, comment les ongles bleuis griffent le vide, comment chaque membre se contracte, chaque doigt se raidit contre l'effroyable issue, comment un râle sort du gosier...avez-vous vu dans les yeux exorbités cette épouvante qu'aucun mot ne peut rendre ?

Terrible es la venganza de aquel capricho del destino que tan rara vez desciende hasta los mortales, cuando cae injustamente en manos de quien no sabe hacer uso de él. Todas las virtudes burguesas, la prudencia, la obediencia, el empeño y la discreción se funden y se derriten impotentes ante las brasas de aquel gran momento del destino que solo reclama al genio y que forjará de él una imagen inmortal.

Conozco mejor la vida porque muy a menudo he estado en trance de perderla.»

No son hermanos tuyos todos los hombres? ¿No vendrá en tu auxilio hasta la misma Parca? Continúa, pues, marchando tranquilamente por el camino de tu vida; no temas nada, y bendice todo lo que acaeciere.

Neque turpis mors forti viro potest accedere. Para las almas fuertes no hay muerte ignominiosa.

Selten gewähren die Götter dem Sterblichen mehr als eine einzige unsterbliche Tat.

avrei dovuto sapere che i libri si fanno solo per legarsi agli uomini al di là del nostro breve respiro e difendersi così dall'inesorabile avversario di ogni vita: la caducità e l'oblio.

Ä°nsan genç olunca ateÅŸin ve ölümün her zaman baÅŸkalar?na s?çrayaca??n? düÅŸünür.

Pero el destino no siempre es magnánimo, ni siquiera con aquellos que ha escogido como a sus preferidos. Raras veces conceden los dioses a los mortales más de una única hazaña inmortal.

was profoundly convinced that were I suddenly to disappear, to fall from my horse, let us say, and break my neck, my fellow-officers would no doubt remark 'Pity about him,' or 'Poor Hofmiller!' but in a month's time no one would really miss me. Another man would be put in my place, would be given my mount, and that others would perform my duties just as well or just as badly as I myself.

and I wish I was dead." "Well, one day you will be, and so shall I; but meanwhile we may as well behave with courage and common sense.

You act like a team player,you be nice to everyone for your entire life,then you die.

In memory of the esteemed Frederick Crocus, who's not dead yet, but will be one day.

Buckle up. It'd be embarrassing to die in a hearse.

She had no doubt the man would kill her. Stupid things went skating through her mind--she'd never told her mother how much she loved her chocolate cupcakes... or Felicia what a kind friend she'd been... or Keith that it was cool and mature that he owned a house, even if it was in Brooklyn.

Well, the truth is, if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time–then you might not be as ambitious as you are.