“Let us live – we must die.”

Book II, Chapter VI; translation from Michael Winterbottom, Declamations of the Elder Seneca (London: Heinemann, 1974) vol. 1 p. 349
Some editions of Seneca prefer the reading Bibamus, moriendum est (Let us drink – we must die).
Controversiae

Original

Vivamus, moriendum est.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Oct. 2, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Let us live – we must die." by Marcus Annaeus Seneca?
Marcus Annaeus Seneca photo
Marcus Annaeus Seneca 9
Roman scholar -54–39 BC

Related quotes

Théodore Guérin photo

“Let us never forget that if we wish to die like the Saints we must live like them.”

Théodore Guérin (1798–1856) Catholic saint and nun from France

Letter to Sisters at Saint Mary's, 1848.
Context: Let us never forget that if we wish to die like the Saints we must live like them. Let us force ourselves to imitate their virtues, in particular humility and charity.

Théodore Guérin photo
Mark Twain photo

“Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”

Variant: Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.
Source: Pudd'nhead Wilson

Claude McKay photo
Jim Jones photo

“If we can't live in peace, then let's die in peace.”

Jim Jones (1931–1978) founder and the leader of the Peoples Temple

" Death Tape http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/DeathTape/Q042fbi.html" FBI No. Q042 (18 November 1978)

Emil M. Cioran photo

“We must live, you used to say, as if we were never going to die. - Didn't you know that's how everyone lives, including those obsessed with Death?”

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

Drawn and Quartered (1983)

Hollow Horn Bear photo

“The bullets bursted [sic] at the time of the war, and we used to die with bullets, but now let us die quietly.”

Hollow Horn Bear (1850–1913) 19th century Lakota chief and policeman

During negotiations with Crook and others, in [Books on Google Play Congressional Serial Set, 1890, U.S. Government Printing Office, https://books.google.com/books?id=lQ0ZAAAAYAAJ, 1 March 2018, 59]

Adrienne Rich photo

“I touch you knowing we weren't born tomorrow,
and somehow, each of us will help the other live,
and somewhere, each of us must help the other die.”

Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) American poet, essayist and feminist

Source: Twenty One Love Poems

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues photo

“To accomplish great things we must live as though we had never to die.”

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist

Pour exécuter de grandes choses, il faut vivre comme si on ne devait jamais mourir.
Quoted in Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays (2009), by Keith Stern, p. 466.
Variant: In order to achieve great things, we must live as though we were never going to die.
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 172.

Related topics