“I wonder if it hurts to live,
And if they have to try,
And whether, could they choose between,
They would not rather die.”

“I would rather die then try to live without you”, “May you always love me and want me but never have me”, “May you never love anyone but me”.”

Jude Deveraux (1947) American writer

“I would rather die standing up to live life on my knees.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

“I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.”

Euripidés (-480–-406 BC) ancient Athenian playwright

“I know
the odds are all against me
and I know
you might not feel this way too
but I know
I would rather die trying
to know
if I could mean something to you”

David Levithan The Realm of Possibility

“"Everyone is bisexual’: “I’ve always had as many powerful, creative ladies in my life as I have men, and you could probably describe some of those relationships as romantic. I think everyone’s bisexual to some degree or another; it’s just a question of whether or not you choose to recognise it and embrace it. Personally, I think choosing between men and women is like choosing between cake and ice cream. You’d be daft not to try both when there are so many different flavours.””

Björk (1965) Icelandic singer-songwriter

“You would rather face a life without me than to have me choose a life I would not choose for myself.”

John Scalzi (1969) American science fiction writer

“If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.”

Charles Lindbergh (1902–1974) American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist

“In theory, it matters little to me whether I live as whether I die; in practice, I am lacerated by every anxiety which opens an abyss between life and death.”

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

“If I would be a young man again and had to decide how to make my living, I would not try to become a scientist or scholar or teacher. I would rather choose to be a plumber or a peddler in the hope to find that modest degree of independence still available under present circumstances.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity