Co la morte a lato
cerco del viver mio novo consiglio,
et veggio 'l meglio, et al peggior m'appiglio.
Canzone 264, st. 8
Il Canzoniere (c. 1351–1353), To Laura in Death
“I spit on my life.
Death in battle would be better for me
than that I, defeated, survive.”
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
This statement is made in reference to his battle against the personification of temptation to evil, Mara.
Source: Pali Canon, Sutta Pitaka, Khuddaka Nikaya (Minor Collection), (Suttas falling down), Sutta 3.2. Padhana Sutta
Joanna Newsom (1982) American musician
Divers <br class="br"> Divers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divers_(Joanna_Newsom_album) (2015)
“If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy,
my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies.”
IX. 413 (tr. Robert Fagles); spoken by Achilles.
Iliad (c. 750 BC)
“He cannot be the better in counsels who is the worse in morals.”
Bernardo Dovizi (1470–1520) Italian cardinal and playwright
Act I, scene II. — (Polinico).
Translation reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of quotations French and Italian (1904), p. 377.
La Calandria (c. 1507)
“I don’t see the dark side until I open my eyes.”
Neil Strauss (1973) American writer
Rules of the Game: The Style Diaries (2007)
Context: Every adventure to be had in this room is on the dark side. The people on the light side are asleep right now. And they are dreaming about the dark side. Because the more you try to repress the dark side, the stronger it gets, until it finds its own way to the surface. I sleep well. I dream of angels and sponge cake and panda bears. I don’t see the dark side until I open my eyes.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning book Sonnets from the Portuguese
No. LXIII
Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850)
Context: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,—I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! —and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
“If I knew that I could die, I would live. My life, my death, my choice.”
Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author
Final lines of his Richard Dimbleby lecture Shaking Hands With Death on euthanasia and assisted suicide, quoted in "Terry Pratchett: my case for a euthanasia tribunal" in The Guardian (2 February 2010) http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/feb/02/terry-pratchett-assisted-suicide-tribunal <br class="br">General sources <br class="br">Context: I dare say that quite a few people have contemplated death for reasons that much later seemed to them to be quite minor. If we are to live in a world where a socially acceptable "early death" can be allowed, it must be allowed as a result of careful consideration.<br>Let us consider me as a test case. As I have said, I would like to die peacefully with Thomas Tallis on my iPod before the disease takes me over and I hope that will not be for quite some time to come, because if I knew that I could die at any time I wanted, then suddenly every day would be as precious as a million pounds. If I knew that I could die, I would live. My life, my death, my choice.
