“When presenting only love, life and death could be more important.”

— Unknown author

Last update June 3, 2021. History

Jill Shalvis (1963) American writer

Source: At Last

“Why did death make life taste so much sweeter? Why could the heart love only what it could also lose?”

Cornelia Funke Inkheart trilogy

Source: Inkdeath

“He wasn’t afraid of dying, only of having not done all he could, and not properly spitting in the eye of death when it came for him. That final gesture was important.”

David Brin book Startide Rising

Source: Startide Rising (1983), Chapter 51 (p. 269)

“If there's not love present, it's much, much harder to function. When there's love present, it's easier to deal with life.”

Brian Wilson (1942) American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer

CNN interview (2004)

“Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud…”

Yann Martel book Life of Pi

Source: Life of Pi (2001), Chapter 1, p. 6
Context: The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity — it's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud.

“Without acknowledging the ever-present gaze of death, the superficial will appear important, and the important will appear superficial.”

Mark Manson (1984) American writer and blogger

Source: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck (2016), Chapter 9, “...And Then You Die” (p. 206)

“Life is really fascinated only by death. It vibrates only when it comes in contact with death.”

Elie Wiesel book Day

Source: Day

“The important business of man is life, and the important business of life is death.”

Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French moralist and essayist

“Someone said to me 'To you football is a matter of life or death!' and I said 'Listen, it's more important than that'.”

Bill Shankly (1913–1981) Scottish footballer and manager

An interview on a Granada Television chat-show, hosted by Shelley Rohde on Wednesday 20th of May 1981

“But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.”

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

Earliest source located is the book Brighter than a Thousand Suns: A Personal History of the Atomic Scientists by Robert Jungk (1958), p. 249, which says that Einstein made the comment during "a walk with Ernst Straus, a young mathematician acting as his scientific assistant at Princeton."<br>Variant: "Equations are more important to me, because politics is for the present, but an equation is something for eternity." From A Briefer History of Time by Stephen Hawking (2005), p. 144 http://books.google.com/books?id=4Y0ZBW19n_YC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA144#v=onepage&q&f=false.<br>Earlier, Straus recalled the German version of the quote in Helle Zeit, Dunkle Zeit: In Memoriam Albert Einstein (1956) edited by Carl Seelig, p. 71. There the quote was given as Ja, so muß man seine Zeit zwischen der Politik und unseren Gleichungen teilen. Aber unsere Gleichungen sind mir doch viel wichtiger; denn die Politik ist für die Gegenwart da, aber solch eine Gleichung is etwas für die Ewigkeit. <br class="br">Attributed in posthumous publications <br class="br">Context: Yes, we now have to divide up our time like that, between politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.

“When presenting only love, life and death could be more important.”

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