“Never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
John Donne (1572–1631) English poet
Source: No man is an island – A selection from the prose
Rush Lyrics
“Never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
John Donne (1572–1631) English poet
Source: No man is an island – A selection from the prose
John Donne (1572–1631) English poet
Modern version: No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Meditation 17. This was the source for the title of Ernest Hemingway's novel.
Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624)
Source: Meditation XVII - Meditation 17
Context: No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
“You have no birthday because you have always lived; you were never born, and never will die.”
Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer
There's No Such Place As Far Away (1978)
Context: You have no birthday because you have always lived; you were never born, and never will die. You are not the child of the people you call mother and father, but their fellow-adventurer on a bright journey to understand the things that are.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Howard Bloom (1943) American publicist and author
The Problem with God: The Tale of a Twisted Confession
The God Problem: How a Godless Cosmos Creates (2012)
“Once you are born in this world you’re old enough to die.”
Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism