Quotes about die

A collection of quotes on the topic of die, living, life, doing.

Quotes about die

Lil Peep photo
Lil Peep photo
Lil Peep photo
Orson Welles photo
Tupac Shakur photo

“My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

Variant: My Mama used to tell me if u can’t find something to live for, you best find something to die for.
Source: Resurrection, 1971-1996

Osamu Dazai photo
Lil Peep photo

“Hold me, I can't breathe I don't wanna die, I don't wanna OD Cup full of lean, pure codeine Ten lines deep, now I can't see”

Lil Peep (1996–2017) American rapper

Song Falling 4 Me, Album: Crybaby

Lil Peep photo
Robert Baden-Powell photo

“If you have ever seen the play Peter Pan you will remember how the pirate chief was always making his dying speech because he was afraid that possibly when the time came for him to die he might not have time to get it off his chest. It is much the same with me, and so, although I am not at this moment dying, I shall be doing so one of these days and I want to send you a parting word of goodbye.

Remember, it is the last you will ever hear from me, so think it over.

I have had a most happy life and I want each one of you to have as happy a life too.

I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness doesn't come from being rich, nor merely from being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so can enjoy life when you are a man.

Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one.

But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn come to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. "Be Prepared" in this way, to live happy and to die happy - stick to your Scout promise always - even after you have ceased to be a boy - and God help you do it.”

Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941) lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement
Osamu Dazai photo
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien photo
Will Rogers photo
Euripidés photo
Omar Mukhtar photo

“We do not surrender — we win or die.”

Omar Mukhtar (1858–1931) Libyan resistance leader

As quoted in "New media emerge in 'liberated' Libya" at BBC News (25 February 2011) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12579451.

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Freddie Mercury photo

“We’re gonna stay together until we die, I’m sure of it.”

Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) British singer, songwriter and record producer

Context: You know something? There's been a lot of rumors lately about a certain band called Queen. The rumors are that... The rumors are that we're gonna split up. What do you think? [audience replies "No!"] [Pointing to his posterior] They're talking from here! [audience replies "Yes"! ] My apologies, but I say what I want. You know what I mean? So forget those rumors. We’re gonna stay together until we die, I’m sure of it. I keep — I must tell you — I keep wanting to leave, but they won’t let me. Also, I suppose we’re not... We're not bad for four aging queens, are we? Really, what do you think?

"Queen: Live at Wembley" (1986), shortly before performing "Who Wants To Live Forever." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GNJ1SQpxFI

“I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. To put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I had come to die, discover that I had not lived.”

Neil Perry character
Context: Modified passage from the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau. Full citation:
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
H.P. Lovecraft photo

“That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.”

Variant: That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.
Source: The Nameless City

Ernesto Che Guevara photo

“We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.”

Ernesto Che Guevara (1928–1967) Argentine Marxist revolutionary

As quoted in Wise Guys : Brilliant Thoughts and Big Talk from Real Men (2005) by Allan Zullo, p. 36

Dorothy Parker photo

“Drink and dance and laugh and lie,
Love, the reeling midnight through,
For tomorrow we shall die!
(But, alas, we never do.)”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Source: "The Flaw in Paganism" in Death and Taxes (1931)

Tennessee Williams photo
Tupac Shakur photo
Emil M. Cioran photo

“The desire to die was my one and only concern; to it I have sacrificed everything, even death.”

Emil M. Cioran (1911–1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist

All Gall Is Divided (1952)

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Charles Bukowski photo

“You have to die a few times before you can really
live.”

Variant: You have to die a few times before you actually live.
Source: The People Look Like Flowers at Last

Tupac Shakur photo
Eckhart Tolle photo
Marcus Garvey photo

“If I die in Atlanta my work shall then only begin, but I shall live, in the physical or spiritual to see the day of Africa’s glory.”

Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) Jamaica-born British political activist, Pan-Africanist, orator, and entrepreneur

Source: Selected Writings and Speeches of Marcus Garvey

Anne McCaffrey photo
Emil M. Cioran photo

“I live only because it is in my power to die when I choose to: without the idea of suicide, I'd have killed myself right away.”

Emil M. Cioran (1911–1995) Romanian philosopher and essayist

All Gall Is Divided (1952)

Nigel Cumberland photo

“Stress can be a killer and is far too prevalent in today’s workplaces. You may not die because of stress but stress can easily kill your energy levels, motivation, relationships, health and mindset.”

Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach

Source: Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?idp24GkAsgjGEC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Managing Teams in a Week (2013) https://books.google.ae/books?idqZjO9_ov74EC&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIIDAB#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, Secrets of Success at Work – 50 techniques to excel (2014) https://books.google.ae/books?id4S7vAgAAQBAJ&printsecfrontcover&dqnigel+cumberland&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIJjAC#vonepage&qnigel%20cumberland&ffalse, p.107

Grigori Rasputin photo

“God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Fear not, the child will not die.”

Grigori Rasputin (1869–1916) Russian mystic

As quoted in the opening of The Chalice of Immortality - Page xi - Google Books Result https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1402215037

“Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really.”

The Sheltering Sky (1949)
Context: Because we don't know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more, perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.

Sophie Scholl photo

“It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control. If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe.”

Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) White Rose member

As quoted in O<sub>2</sub> : Breathing New Life Into Faith (2008) by Richard Dahlstrom, Ch. 4 : Artisans of Hope: Stepping into God's Kingdom Story, p. 63; this source is disputed as it does not cite an original document for the quote. It is also used in <i> The White Rose </i> (1991) by Lillian Garrett-Groag, a monologue during Sophie's interrogation.
Disputed
Context: The real damage is done by those millions who want to "survive." The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves — or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honor, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control. If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.

Sophie Scholl photo

“Such a splendid sunny day, and I have to go. But how many have to die on the battlefield in these days, how many young, promising lives… What does my death matter if by our acts thousands are warned and alerted. Among the student body there will certainly be a revolt.”

Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) White Rose member

As quoted by Else Gebel, in letter to Robert Scholl (November, 1946). Original German text. http://www.mythoselser.de/texts/scholl-gebel.htm

Hatake Kakashi photo
Bill Gates photo

“If you're born poor it's not your fault, but if you die poor it's your fault.”

Bill Gates (1955) American business magnate and philanthropist

Quoted in various publications, without any further sourcing. The quote is dubious in view of the Gates Foundation's public mission, "to lift people out of hunger and extreme poverty." Gates was born to an affluent family.
Misattributed

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

Variant: If a man hasn’t found something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.
Source: The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Kurt Cobain photo
Henry Miller photo
Jean Paul Sartre photo

“Better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees.”

Jean Paul Sartre (1905–1980) French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and …
Emil M. Cioran photo
G. I. Gurdjieff photo

“A man may be born, but in order to be born he must first die, and in order to die he must first awake.”

G. I. Gurdjieff (1866–1949) influential spiritual teacher, Armenian philosopher, composer and writer

In Search of the Miraculous (1949)

Aeschylus photo

“Better to die on your feet than live on your knees.”

Aeschylus (-525–-456 BC) ancient Athenian playwright

This is usually attributed to Emiliano Zapata, but sometimes to Aeschylus, who is credited with expressing similar sentiments in Prometheus Bound: "For it would be better to die once and for all than to suffer pain for all one's life".
Misattributed

Kobe Bryant photo
Epictetus photo
Anne Sexton photo

“Live or die, but don't poison everything.”

Anne Sexton (1928–1974) poet from the United States
Tove Jansson photo
Bertrand Russell photo

“I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist
Rick Riordan photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they'd die for.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement
Hunter S. Thompson photo

“Too weird to live, too rare to die!”

Source: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Frida Kahlo photo
José Rizal photo
James Thurber photo

“All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.”

James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright

"The Shore and the Sea", Further Fables for Our Time (first publication, 1956)
From Fables for Our Time and Further Fables for Our Time

Sojourner Truth photo

“I'm not going to die, I'm going home like a shooting star.”

Sojourner Truth (1797–1883) African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist
Emil M. Cioran photo
Joan Baez photo

“You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now.”

Joan Baez (1941) American singer

Daybreak http://books.google.com/books?id=Imte1JcsQ64C&q=%22You+don't+get+to+choose+how+you're+going+to+die+Or+when+You+can+only+decide+how+you're+going+to+live+Now%22&pg=PA135#v=onepage (1968)
Variant or paraphrase: You can't decide how you're going to die. Or when. What you can decide is how you're going to live now.

Crazy Horse photo

“Hokahey! Today is a good day to die.”

Crazy Horse (1840–1877) Oglala Sioux chief

War cry of Crazy Horse in battle as quoted at "Setting the Record Straight About Native Languages: A Good Day To Die" http://www.native-languages.org/iaq21.htm

Emil M. Cioran photo

“I'd like to die like my old dad, peacefully in his sleep, not screaming like his passengers.”

Bob Monkhouse (1928–2003) English entertainer

Guardian obituary http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/dec/30/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

John Fletcher photo
Julius Caesar photo

“It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.”

Julius Caesar (-100–-44 BC) Roman politician and general

Disputed
Original: (la) Qui se ultro morti offerant facilius reperiuntur quam qui dolorem patienter ferant.

Quoted in many works without citation

Freddie Mercury photo
Tupac Shakur photo
Alexis Karpouzos photo
Mwanandeke Kindembo photo

“I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.”

Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Other sources
Source: Banksy In His Own Words- Interview At The Sun https://web.archive.org/web/20181102203920/http://graffart.eu/blog/2010/09/banksy-in-his-own-words-interview-at-the-sun/, Graffart.eu, Retrieved 2 November 2018

Max Planck photo
Vladimir Nabokov photo

“Don't touch me; I'll die if you touch me.”

Source: Lolita

Charles Bukowski photo
Fernando Pessoa photo

“If, after I die, they should want to write my biography,
There's nothing simpler.
I've just two dates—of my birth, and of my death.
In between the one thing and the other all the days are mine.”

Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher and philosopher

Se, depois de eu morrer, quiserem escrever a minha biografia,
Não há nada mais simples.
Tem só duas datas—a da minha nascença e a da minha morte.
Entre uma e outra coisa todos os dias são meus.
Alberto Caeiro (heteronym), "Se, depois de eu morrer" (8 November 1915), trans. Jonathan Griffin.
Source: Poems of Fernando Pessoa

Georgia O'Keeffe photo
Lewis Carroll photo

“Only the insane equate pain with success."
"The uninformed must improve their deficit, or die."
_Cheshire Cat”

Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer

Source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Other Stories

Neale Donald Walsch photo

“You are afraid to die, and you’re afraid to live. What a way to exist.”

Neale Donald Walsch (1943) American writer

Source: Home with God: In a Life That Never Ends

Tennessee Williams photo
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn photo
Cassandra Clare photo

“I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there’s a life after that, I’ll love you then.”

Jace to Clary, pg. 331
Variant: There is no pretending, I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I'll love you then.
Source: The Mortal Instruments, City of Glass (2009)

Haruki Murakami photo
Friedrich Nietzsche photo
Langston Hughes photo
Tim Burton photo

“Son, are you happy?
I don't mean to pry,
but do you dream of Heaven?
Have you ever wanted to die?”

Tim Burton (1958) American filmmaker

Source: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart photo
Hunter S. Thompson photo