Quotes About Mortality

Ser inmortal es baladí; menos el hombre, todas las criaturas lo son, pues ignoran la muerte; lo divino, lo terrible, lo incomprensible, es saberse inmortal.

We forget that we are all dead men conversing with dead men.

A man sets himself the task of portraying the world. Shortly before he dies he discovers that this patient labyrinth of lines is a drawing of his own face.

What will die with me the day I die? What pathetic or frail image will be lost to the world? The voice of Macedonio Fernandez, the image of a bay horse in a vacant lot on the corner of Sarrano and Charcas, a bar of sulfur in the drawer of a mahogany desk?

La muerte es una vida vivida. La vida es una muerte que viene.

The truth is that we all live by leaving behind; no doubt we all profoundly know that we are immortal and that sooner or later every man will do all things and know everything.

Time is living me.

There is a line in Verlaine I shall not recall again, There is a street close by forbidden to my feet, There's a mirror that's seen me for the very last time, There is a door that I have locked till the end of the world. Among the books in my library (I have them before me) There are some that I shall never open now. This summer I complete my fiftieth year; Death is gnawing at me ceaselessly.

El hombre olvida que es un muerto que conversa con muertos.

All our lives we postpone everything that can be postponed; perhaps we all have the certainty, deep inside, that we are immortal and sooner or later every man will do everything, know all there is to know.

Others died, but it happened in the past, The season (as all men know) most favorable for death. Is it possible that I, subject of Yaqub Almansur, Must die as roses had to die and Aristotle?

It seemed incredible that this day, a day without warnings or omens, might be that of my implacable death.

Know this: in some way you're already dead.

Whoever has seen the universe, whoever has beheld the fiery designs of the universe, cannot think in terms of one man, of that man's trivial fortunes or misfortunes, though he be that very man. That man has been he and now matters no more to him. What is the life of that other to him, the nation of that other to him, if he, now, is no one? This is why I do not pronounce the formula, why, lying here in the darkness, I let the days obliterate me.

To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death.

But then, all our lives we postpone everything that can be postponed; perhaps we all have the certainty, deep inside, that we are immortal, and that sooner or later every man will do everything, know all there is to know.

Y no comprendo cómo el tiempo pasa Yo, que soy tiempo y sangre y agonía.

Buckley descree de Dios, pero quiere demostrar al Dios no existente que los hombres mortales son capaces de concebir un mundo.

La cosa certa è che viviamo rimandando tutto ciò che può essere rimandato; forse tutti sappiamo che siamo immortali e che prima o poi, ogni uomo farà ogni cosa e saprà tutto

I felt what we always feel when someone dies–the sad awareness, now futile, of how little it would have cost us to have been more loving. One forgets that one is a dead man conversing with dead men.

Vivimos descubriendo y olvidando esa dulce costumbre de la noche. Hay que mirarla bien. Puede ser última. (Our life is spent discovering and forgetting that gentle habit of the night. Take a good look. It could be the last.)

What will die with me the day I die? What pathetic or frail image will be lost to the world?

La muerte (o su alusión) hace preciosos y patéticos a los hombres. Estos conmueven por su condición de fantasmas; cada acto que ejecutan puede ser último; no hay rostro que no esté por desdibujarse como el rostro de un sueño. Todo entre los mortales tiene el valor de lo irrecuperable y de lo azaroso.

En Roma, conversé con filósofos que sintieron que dilatar la vida de los hombres era dilatar su agonía y multiplicar el número de sus muertes.