“Pestis eram vivus… moriens tua mors ero - "Living, I was your plague… dying, I shall be your death.”

“After your death people will write of your love affairs, but I shall say nothing, because I will remember how proud you were.”

Georgie Hyde-Lees (1892–1968) Wife of Yeats

“I say further, and lay my saying to your heart, you too shall live but for a little season; death and the day of your doom are close upon you, and they will lay you low by the hand of Achilles son of Aiakos.”

Homér Iliad

“Before I became old I tried to live well; now that I am old, I shall try to die well; but dying well means dying gladly.”
Ante senectutem curavi ut bene viverem, in senectute ut bene moriar; bene autem mori est libenter mori.

Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

“I am still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living soon. (his last words)”

John Newton (1725–1807) Anglican clergyman and hymn-writer

“I really do fear that I'm dying
I really do fear that I'm dead
I saw it in your eyes what I'm looking for
I saw it in your eyes what will make me live.”

Rufus Wainwright (1973) American-Canadian singer-songwriter and composer

“Someone dying asks if there is life after death. Yes, comes the answer, only not yours.”

E.L. Doctorow (1931–2015) novelist, editor, professor

“I have eaten your bread and salt.
I have drunk your water and wine.
The deaths ye died I have watched beside
And the lives ye led were mine.”

Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) English short-story writer, poet, and novelist

“If you die you’re completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. I’m not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope I’ve got.”

Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist

“As long as I live I shall not allow myself to forget that I shall die; I am waiting for death so that I can forget about it.”

Emil M. Cioran (1911–1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist