“Death is a problem of the living. Dead people have no problems.”

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Death is a problem of the living. Dead people have no problems." by Norbert Elias?
Norbert Elias photo
Norbert Elias 4
German sociologist 1897–1990

Related quotes

Emil M. Cioran photo
Joseph Stalin photo

“Death solves all problems — no man, no problem.”

Joseph Stalin (1879–1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

This actually comes from the novel Children of the Arbat (1987) by Anatoly Rybakov. In his later book The Novel of Memories ( In Russian http://www.sakharov-center.ru/asfcd/auth/auth_pages.xtmpl?Key=18637&page=307) Rybakov admitted that he had no sources for such a statement.
Misattributed

Jiddu Krishnamurti photo

“What happens when a brain is educated in problems? It can never solve problems; it can only create more problems. When a brain that is trained to have problems, and to live with problems, solves one problem, in the very solution of that problem, it creates more problems.”

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher

Source: 1980s, That Benediction is Where You Are (1985), p. 18
Context: From childhood we are trained to have problems. When we are sent to school, we have to learn how to write, how to read, and all the rest of it. How to write becomes a problem to the child. Please follow this carefully. Mathematics becomes a problem, history becomes a problem, as does chemistry. So the child is educated, from childhood, to live with problems — the problem of God, problem of a dozen things. So our brains are conditioned, trained, educated to live with problems. From childhood we have done this. What happens when a brain is educated in problems? It can never solve problems; it can only create more problems. When a brain that is trained to have problems, and to live with problems, solves one problem, in the very solution of that problem, it creates more problems. From childhood we are trained, educated to live with problems and, therefore, being centred in problems, we can never solve any problem completely. It is only the free brain that is not conditioned to problems that can solve problems. It is one of our constant burdens to have problems all the time. Therefore our brains are never quiet, free to observe, to look. So we are asking: Is it possible not to have a single problem but to face problems? But to understand those problems, and to totally resolve them, the brain must be free.

Michael Marmot photo
Ben Carson photo

“People are simply not willing to look at their problems honestly and admit that they have problems.”

Ben Carson (1951) 17th and current United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; American neurosurgeon

Source: Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence

Raymond E. Feist photo

“Life is problems. Living is solving problems.”

Source: Silverthorn

Malcolm X photo

“The cruel law of life is that a solved problem creates two new problems, and the best prescription for happy living is not to solve any more problems than you have to.”

Russell Baker (1925–2019) writer and satirst from the United States

"The Big Problem Binge," The New York Times (1965-03-18)

Gabrielle Zevin photo
U.G. Krishnamurti photo

“The plain fact is that if you don't have a problem, you create one. If you don't have a problem you don't feel that you are living.”

U.G. Krishnamurti (1918–2007) Indian philosopher

Source: No Way Out (2002), Ch. 7: What Kind Of Human Being Do You Want?

Related topics