“When I die, when I die, I'll rot.
But when I live, but when I live,
I'll give it all I've got.”
Sufjan Stevens (1975) American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
"Age of Adz"
Lyrics, The Age of Adz (2010)
“I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive.”
Cf. Richard Dawkins (2003), A Devil's Chaplain: «There is more than just grandeur in this view of life, bleak and cold though it can seem from under the security blanket of ignorance. There is deep refreshment to be had from standing up and facing straight into the strong keen wind of understanding: Yeats's 'Winds that blow through the starry ways'.»
1920s, What I Believe (1925)
Source: Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects
Context: Religion, since it has its source in terror, has dignified certain kinds of fear and made people think them not disgraceful. In this it has done mankind a great disservice: all fear is bad. I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting. Many a man has borne himself proudly on the scaffold; surely the same pride should teach us to think truly about man's place in the world. Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cosy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigour, and the great spaces have a splendour of their own.
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Do you have more details about the quote "I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive." by Bertrand Russell?
Bertrand Russell562
logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970Related quotes
“I believe that we should die with decency so that at least decency will survive.”
Dag Hammarskjöld (1905–1961) Swedish diplomat, economist, and author
Markings (1964)
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), VI : In the Depths of the Abyss
Context: I will not say that the more or less poetical and unphilosophical doctrines that I am about to set forth are those which make me live; but I will venture to say that it is my longing to live and to live for ever that inspires these doctrines within me. And if by means of them I succeed in strengthening and sustaining this same longing in another, perhaps when it is all but dead, then I shall have performed a man's work, and above all, I shall have lived. In a word, be it with reason or without reason or against reason, I am resolved not to die. And if, when at last I die out, I die altogether, then I shall not have died out of myself — that is, I shall not have yielded myself to death, but my human destiny shall have killed me. Unless I come to lose my head, or rather my heart, I will not abdicate from life — life will be wrested from me.
Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786) king of Prussia
[Holmes, Richard, John Pimlott, 1999, The Hutchinson Atlas of Battle Plans: Before and After, Taylor & Francis, 9781579582036, http://books.google.com/books?id=FB1zBuyCQF0C&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=%22I+shall+not+survive+this+cruel+misfortune&source=bl&ots=ovyO1BCrCg&sig=_acnLcNlnOwVb44Nw-whp8S3Slk&hl=en&ei=pyFKS6SGGcPVlAfQv7wX&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22I%20shall%20not%20survive%20this%20cruel%20misfortune&f=false]
“When I believe in nothing, I do not want to meet you when you believe in nothing.”
Antonio Porchia (1885–1968) Italian Argentinian poet
Cuando no creo en nada, no quisiera encontrarme contigo, cuando no crees en nada.
Voces (1943)
Robert M. La Follette Sr. (1855–1925) American politician
Speech before Congress (April 4, 1917), Congressional Record—Senate, April 4, 1917, 224–225.
Context: Mr. President, I had supposed until recently that it was the duty of senators and representatives in Congress to vote and act according to their convictions on all public matters that came before them for consideration and decision. Quite another doctrine has recently been promulgated by certain newspapers, which unfortunately seems to have found considerable support elsewhere, and that is the doctrine of “standing back of the President” without inquiring whether the President is right or wrong.
For myself, I have never subscribed to that doctrine and never shall. I shall support the President in the measures he proposes when I believe them to be right. I shall oppose measures proposed by the President when I believe them to be wrong.
Morarji Desai (1896–1995) Former Indian Finance Minister, Freedom Fighters, Former prime minister
Morarji Desai speaks about life and celibacy