“To die is nothing. Begin by living. It’s less funny and lasts longer.”
Mourir, ce n'est rien. Commence donc par vivre. C'est moins drôle et c'est plus long.
Roméo et Jeannette (1946), Act 3.
1900s, The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (1900), National Duties
Context: The man who works, the man who does great deeds, in the end dies as surely as the veriest idler who cumbers the earth’s surface; but he leaves behind him the great fact that he has done his work well. So it is with nations. While the nation that has dared to be great, that has had the will and the power to change the destiny of the ages, in the end must die, yet no less surely the nation that has played the part of the weakling must also die; and whereas the nation that has done nothing leaves nothing behind it, the nation that has done a great work really continues, though in changed form, to live forevermore. The Roman has passed away exactly as all the nations of antiquity which did not expand when he expanded have passed away; but their very memory has vanished, while he himself is still a living force throughout the wide world in our entire civilization of today, and will so continue through countless generations, through untold ages.
“Man lives measuring, and he’s the measure of nothing. Not even of himself.”
El hombre vive midiendo, y no es medida de nada. Ni de sí mismo.
Voces (1943)
Book Three, Chapter XIV.
Democracy in America, Volume II (1840), Book Three
“And die of nothing but a rage to live”
Variant: You purchase pain with all that joy can give and die of nothing but a rage to live.
Source: Moral Essays
“To die is nothing; but it is terrible not to live.”
Variant: It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.
Source: Les Misérables
