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QUOTES ABOUT DEATH

Death is one of the few experiences that unites every human life, yet it remains deeply personal and profoundly mysterious. Across cultures, generations, and beliefs, writers, philosophers, and artists have tried to capture its meaning in words. The following quotes explore death from many angles—grief and acceptance, fear and peace, endings and new beginnings.   ◀ Back
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NOT YET RATED ▼
They say that in the second before our death, each of us understands the real reason for our existence, and out of that moment, heaven or hell is born.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
He wanted to bury her in Velaris. Somewhere full of light and warmth, full of kind people. Far away from these mountains.
- Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Frost and Starlight
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Did you see her again in France?" I asked him.”

“No. When I got to France, she was already dead. She committed suicide ...”

“Why?”

“She often told me she was frightened of getting old...
- Patrick Modiano
Rue des Boutiques Obscures
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Life is the beginning of death. Life is for the sake of death. Death is at once the end and the beginning—at once separation and closer union of the self. Through death the reduction is complete
- Novalis
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
I have almost completed a long novel, but it is unpublishable until my death and England's.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Bones are patient. Bones never tire nor do they run away. When you come upon a man who has been dead many years, his bones will still be lying there, in place, content, patiently waiting, but his flesh will have gotten up and left him. Water is like flesh. Water will not stand still. It is always off to somewhere else; restless, talkative, and curious. Even water in a covered jar will disappear in time. Flesh is water. Stones are like bones. Satisfied. Patient. Dependable. Tell me, then, Alobar, in order to achieve immortality, should you emulate water or stone? Should you trust your flesh or your bones?
- Tom Robbins
Jitterbug Perfume
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Grandfather : Death is nothing to be afraid of.
Renee : It's not death I'm afraid of.
Grandfather: What is it, then?

Renee : LIFE
- Yvonne Wood
Dead Beautiful
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
And like that, I said goodbye to my grandmother like we were two people who met in a coffee shop, shared a lifetime of stories and left wanting more, but knowing we’d meet there again.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Yes, Max, you are going to die. Just like everybody else.
Thank you, Confucious.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
He looked like a man who could survive a couple of flesh wounds, but then so had Achilles and Caesar.
- Oyinkan Braithwaite
My Sister, the Serial Killer
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Who is there today who still cares about a well-finished death? No one. Even the rich, who could after all afford this luxury, are beginning to grow lazy and indifferent; the desire to have a death of one's own is becoming more and more rare. In a short time it will be as rare as a life of one's own.
- Rainer Maria Rilke
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
When people get a chance to come close to death without having it touch them personally, they never miss the opportunity.
- Herman Koch
The Dinner
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
All is as if the world did cease to exist. The city's monuments go unseen, its past unheard, and its culture slowly fading in the dismal sea.
- Nathan Reese Maher
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Smiling at death seems like a pretty bold act. And so I smile like a damned fool.
- Emm Cole
Keeping Merminia
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
She started thinking about all the euphemisms for death, all the anxious taboos that had always fascinated her. It was too bad you could never have an intelligent discussion on the subject. People were either too young or too old, or else they didn't have time.
- Tove Jansson
The Summer Book
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Death was too definite an object to be wished for or avoided.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
You tell yourself it would be best for her to die. You tell yourself that if now, at this hour of the night, she died, it would be easier. For you, you probably mean, but you don't finish the sentence.
- Marguerite Duras
The Malady of Death
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
The line between life and death is narrow and dark, and a bereaved twin lives closer to it than most.
- Diane Setterfield
The Thirteenth Tale
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Every suicide is a solution to a problem.
- Jean Baechler
Suicides
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
But after I got them to leave and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn't any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.
- Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression - and with all this yet to die.
- Ernest Becker
The Denial of Death
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
The human animal is a beast that dies and if he's got money he buys and buys and buys and I think the reason he buys everything he can buy is that in the back of his mind he has the crazy hope that one of his purchases will be life everlasting!--Which it never can be....
- Tennessee Williams
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
He always thought that Touie's long illness would somehow prepare him for her death. He always imagined that grief anf guilt, if they followed, would be more clear-edged, more defined, more finite. Instead they seem like weather, like clouds constantly re-forming into new shapes, blown by nameless, unidentifiable winds.
- Julian Barnes
Arthur & George
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
There was something about other people's grief that was so exposing, so personal, that she felt she shouldn't be looking.
- Jane Fallon
Getting Rid of Matthew
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
They say that in the second before our death, each of us understands the real reason for our existence, and out of that moment, heaven or hell is born.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
He wanted to bury her in Velaris. Somewhere full of light and warmth, full of kind people. Far away from these mountains.
- Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Frost and Starlight
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Did you see her again in France?" I asked him.”

“No. When I got to France, she was already dead. She committed suicide ...”

“Why?”

“She often told me she was frightened of getting old...
- Patrick Modiano
Rue des Boutiques Obscures
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Life is the beginning of death. Life is for the sake of death. Death is at once the end and the beginning—at once separation and closer union of the self. Through death the reduction is complete
- Novalis
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
I have almost completed a long novel, but it is unpublishable until my death and England's.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Bones are patient. Bones never tire nor do they run away. When you come upon a man who has been dead many years, his bones will still be lying there, in place, content, patiently waiting, but his flesh will have gotten up and left him. Water is like flesh. Water will not stand still. It is always off to somewhere else; restless, talkative, and curious. Even water in a covered jar will disappear in time. Flesh is water. Stones are like bones. Satisfied. Patient. Dependable. Tell me, then, Alobar, in order to achieve immortality, should you emulate water or stone? Should you trust your flesh or your bones?
- Tom Robbins
Jitterbug Perfume
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Grandfather : Death is nothing to be afraid of.
Renee : It's not death I'm afraid of.
Grandfather: What is it, then?

Renee : LIFE
- Yvonne Wood
Dead Beautiful
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
And like that, I said goodbye to my grandmother like we were two people who met in a coffee shop, shared a lifetime of stories and left wanting more, but knowing we’d meet there again.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Yes, Max, you are going to die. Just like everybody else.
Thank you, Confucious.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
He looked like a man who could survive a couple of flesh wounds, but then so had Achilles and Caesar.
- Oyinkan Braithwaite
My Sister, the Serial Killer
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Who is there today who still cares about a well-finished death? No one. Even the rich, who could after all afford this luxury, are beginning to grow lazy and indifferent; the desire to have a death of one's own is becoming more and more rare. In a short time it will be as rare as a life of one's own.
- Rainer Maria Rilke
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
When people get a chance to come close to death without having it touch them personally, they never miss the opportunity.
- Herman Koch
The Dinner
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
All is as if the world did cease to exist. The city's monuments go unseen, its past unheard, and its culture slowly fading in the dismal sea.
- Nathan Reese Maher
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Smiling at death seems like a pretty bold act. And so I smile like a damned fool.
- Emm Cole
Keeping Merminia
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
She started thinking about all the euphemisms for death, all the anxious taboos that had always fascinated her. It was too bad you could never have an intelligent discussion on the subject. People were either too young or too old, or else they didn't have time.
- Tove Jansson
The Summer Book
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Death was too definite an object to be wished for or avoided.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
You tell yourself it would be best for her to die. You tell yourself that if now, at this hour of the night, she died, it would be easier. For you, you probably mean, but you don't finish the sentence.
- Marguerite Duras
The Malady of Death
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
The line between life and death is narrow and dark, and a bereaved twin lives closer to it than most.
- Diane Setterfield
The Thirteenth Tale
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Every suicide is a solution to a problem.
- Jean Baechler
Suicides
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
But after I got them to leave and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn't any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.
- Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression - and with all this yet to die.
- Ernest Becker
The Denial of Death
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
The human animal is a beast that dies and if he's got money he buys and buys and buys and I think the reason he buys everything he can buy is that in the back of his mind he has the crazy hope that one of his purchases will be life everlasting!--Which it never can be....
- Tennessee Williams
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
He always thought that Touie's long illness would somehow prepare him for her death. He always imagined that grief anf guilt, if they followed, would be more clear-edged, more defined, more finite. Instead they seem like weather, like clouds constantly re-forming into new shapes, blown by nameless, unidentifiable winds.
- Julian Barnes
Arthur & George
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
There was something about other people's grief that was so exposing, so personal, that she felt she shouldn't be looking.
- Jane Fallon
Getting Rid of Matthew
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
They say that in the second before our death, each of us understands the real reason for our existence, and out of that moment, heaven or hell is born.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
He wanted to bury her in Velaris. Somewhere full of light and warmth, full of kind people. Far away from these mountains.
- Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Frost and Starlight
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Did you see her again in France?" I asked him.”

“No. When I got to France, she was already dead. She committed suicide ...”

“Why?”

“She often told me she was frightened of getting old...
- Patrick Modiano
Rue des Boutiques Obscures
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Life is the beginning of death. Life is for the sake of death. Death is at once the end and the beginning—at once separation and closer union of the self. Through death the reduction is complete
- Novalis
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
I have almost completed a long novel, but it is unpublishable until my death and England's.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Bones are patient. Bones never tire nor do they run away. When you come upon a man who has been dead many years, his bones will still be lying there, in place, content, patiently waiting, but his flesh will have gotten up and left him. Water is like flesh. Water will not stand still. It is always off to somewhere else; restless, talkative, and curious. Even water in a covered jar will disappear in time. Flesh is water. Stones are like bones. Satisfied. Patient. Dependable. Tell me, then, Alobar, in order to achieve immortality, should you emulate water or stone? Should you trust your flesh or your bones?
- Tom Robbins
Jitterbug Perfume
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Grandfather : Death is nothing to be afraid of.
Renee : It's not death I'm afraid of.
Grandfather: What is it, then?

Renee : LIFE
- Yvonne Wood
Dead Beautiful
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
And like that, I said goodbye to my grandmother like we were two people who met in a coffee shop, shared a lifetime of stories and left wanting more, but knowing we’d meet there again.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Yes, Max, you are going to die. Just like everybody else.
Thank you, Confucious.
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
He looked like a man who could survive a couple of flesh wounds, but then so had Achilles and Caesar.
- Oyinkan Braithwaite
My Sister, the Serial Killer
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Who is there today who still cares about a well-finished death? No one. Even the rich, who could after all afford this luxury, are beginning to grow lazy and indifferent; the desire to have a death of one's own is becoming more and more rare. In a short time it will be as rare as a life of one's own.
- Rainer Maria Rilke
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
When people get a chance to come close to death without having it touch them personally, they never miss the opportunity.
- Herman Koch
The Dinner
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
All is as if the world did cease to exist. The city's monuments go unseen, its past unheard, and its culture slowly fading in the dismal sea.
- Nathan Reese Maher
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Smiling at death seems like a pretty bold act. And so I smile like a damned fool.
- Emm Cole
Keeping Merminia
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
She started thinking about all the euphemisms for death, all the anxious taboos that had always fascinated her. It was too bad you could never have an intelligent discussion on the subject. People were either too young or too old, or else they didn't have time.
- Tove Jansson
The Summer Book
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Death was too definite an object to be wished for or avoided.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
You tell yourself it would be best for her to die. You tell yourself that if now, at this hour of the night, she died, it would be easier. For you, you probably mean, but you don't finish the sentence.
- Marguerite Duras
The Malady of Death
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
The line between life and death is narrow and dark, and a bereaved twin lives closer to it than most.
- Diane Setterfield
The Thirteenth Tale
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
Every suicide is a solution to a problem.
- Jean Baechler
Suicides
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
But after I got them to leave and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn't any good. It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.
- Ernest Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
This is the terror: to have emerged from nothing, to have a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, an excruciating inner yearning for life and self-expression - and with all this yet to die.
- Ernest Becker
The Denial of Death
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
The human animal is a beast that dies and if he's got money he buys and buys and buys and I think the reason he buys everything he can buy is that in the back of his mind he has the crazy hope that one of his purchases will be life everlasting!--Which it never can be....
- Tennessee Williams
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
He always thought that Touie's long illness would somehow prepare him for her death. He always imagined that grief anf guilt, if they followed, would be more clear-edged, more defined, more finite. Instead they seem like weather, like clouds constantly re-forming into new shapes, blown by nameless, unidentifiable winds.
- Julian Barnes
Arthur & George
Topic: Death
NOT YET RATED ▼
There was something about other people's grief that was so exposing, so personal, that she felt she shouldn't be looking.
- Jane Fallon
Getting Rid of Matthew
Topic: Death
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