“There taught us how to live; and (oh! too high
The price for knowledge) taught us how to die.”

—  Thomas Tickell

On the Death of Mr. Addison (1721), line 81. Compare: "He who should teach men to die, would at the same time teach them to live", Michel de Montaigne, Essay, book i. chap. ix.; "I have taught you, my dear flock, for above thirty years how to live; and I will show you in a very short time how to die", Sandys, Anglorum Speculum, p. 903; "Teach him how to live, And, oh still harder lesson! how to die", Beilby Porteus, Death, line 316; "He taught them how to live and how to die", Somerville, In Memory of the Rev. Mr. Moore.
Context: There patient show'd us the wise course to steer,
A candid censor, and a friend severe;
There taught us how to live; and (oh! too high
The price for knowledge) taught us how to die.

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English poet and man of letters 1685–1740

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