Quotes about die
page 38

“He brings man's freedom in his hands,
Not as a coin that may be spent or lost
But as a living fire within the heart,
Never quite quenched — because he brings to all,
The thought, the wish, the dream of brotherhood,
Never and never to be wholly lost,
The water and the bread of the oppressed,
The stay and succor of the resolute,
The harness of the valiant and the brave,
The new word that has changed the shaken world.
And, though he die, his word shall grow like wheat
And every time a child is born,
In pain and love and freedom hardly won,
Born and gone forth to help and aid mankind,
There will be women with a right to say
"Gloria, gloria in excelsis deo!
A child is born!"”

Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943) poet, short story writer, novelist

Innkeeper's wife
Source: A Child is Born (1942)

Love, Women, Pain, World

“For the man crucified on the crossed machine guns
Without name, without resurrection, without stars,
His dark head heavy with death and his flesh long sour
With the smell of his many prisons — John Smith, John Doe,
John Nobody — oh, crack your mind for his name!
Faceless as water, naked as the dust,
Dishonored as the earth the gas-shells poison
And barbarous with portent.
This is he.
This is the man they ate at the green table
Putting their gloves on ere they touched the meat.
This is the fruit of war, the fruit of peace,
The ripeness of invention, the new lamb,
The answer to the wisdom of the wise.
And still he hangs, and still he will not die
And still, on the steel city of our years
The light falls and the terrible blood streams down.”

Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943) poet, short story writer, novelist

Source: Litany for Dictatorships (1935)

Death, Wisdom, War, Peace

“55 years ago today, we were beaten, tear gassed, and trampled by horses. I thought I saw death. I thought I was going to die. I don't know how I made it back, but I know we cannot rest. We cannot become weary. We must keep pushing and pulling and find a way to get in the way.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader) (1940) American politician and civil rights leader

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1236392740717543424, (7 March 2020)

Death, Way, Tear, Horse

“We were beaten, we were tear-gassed. I thought I was going to die on this bridge. But somehow and some way, God almighty helped me here. We cannot give up now. We cannot give in. We must keep the faith, keep our eyes on the prize.”

John Lewis (civil rights leader) (1940) American politician and civil rights leader

Source: Twitter https://twitter.com/repjohnlewis/status/1234277472776183810, (1 March 2020)

God, Faith, Way, Tear

“Let us never forget that if we wish to die like the Saints we must live like them. Let us force ourselves to imitate their virtues, in particular humility and charity.”

Théodore Guérin (1798–1856) Catholic saint and nun from France

Letter to Sisters at Saint Mary's, 1848.

Forgetting

“[T]ogether we shall write an American story of hope, not fear. Of unity, not division. Of light, not darkness. A story of decency and dignity, love and healing, greatness and goodness.May this be the story that guides us, the story that inspires us, and the story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history, we met the moment. Democracy and hope, truth and justice, did not die on our watch, but thrived, that America secured liberty at home and stood once again as a beacon to the world. That is what we owe our forebears, one another, and generations to follow.So, with purpose and resolve, we turn to those tasked of our time, sustained by faith, driven by conviction, and devoted to one another and the country we love with all our hearts. May God bless America and may God protect our troops. Thank you, America.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

2021, January, Presidential Inaugural Address (2021)

Love, God, Truth, Age

“After a year and six months, it's no longer me that you want. But, I love you so much it hurts. Never mistreated you once; I poured my heart out to you. Let down my guard, swear to God. I'll blow my brains in your lap, lay here and die in your arms. Drop to my knees and I'm pleading; I'm trying to stop you from leaving. You won't even listen, so...”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Space Bound"
2010s, Recovery (2010)

Love, God, Making love, Heart

“Shall we fight or shall we fly?
Good Sir Richard, tell us now,
For to fight is but to die!
There'll be little of us left by the time this sun be set.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) British poet laureate

And Sir Richard said again: "We be all good English men.
Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the children of the devil,
For I never turn'd my back upon Don or devil yet."
St. 4
The Revenge (1878)

Time, Sun, Fight, Flying

“Let pessimism once take hold of the mind, and life is all topsy-turvy, all vanity and vexation of spirit. There is no cure for individual or social disorder, except in forgetfulness and annihilation. "Let us eat, drink and be merry," says the pessimist, "for to-morrow we die."”

Helen Keller book Optimism

If I regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist, I should be undone. I should seek in vain for the light that does not visit my eyes and the music that does not ring in my ears. I should beg night and day and never be satisfied. I should sit apart in awful solitude, a prey to fear and despair. But since I consider it a duty to myself and to others to be happy, I escape a misery worse than any physical deprivation.
Optimism (1903)

Life, Drink, Forgetting

“So if I die today, I'll be the happy phantom,
And I'll go chasing the nuns out in the yard,
…And the atrocities of school I can forgive:
The happy phantom has no right to bitch.”

Tori Amos (1963) American singer

"Happy Phantom".
Songs

Happiness, School, Forgiveness, Bitch

“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

movie The Dark Knight

Character Harvey Dent

“That's life. We're all going to die someday.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

Said about the Covid-19 pandemic, as quoted in "'A little flu': Brazil's Bolsonaro playing down coronavirus crisis" https://www.euronews.com/2020/04/06/a-little-flu-brazil-s-bolsonaro-playing-down-coronavirus-crisis, euronews (10 April 2020) 2020

Life

“To settle is to die. To not settle implies that death is avoidable.”

Isaac Mashman (2000) businessman, speaker

Death

“It's customary, at times like this, to say a few words. A man shouldn't die with no understanding of why he's been murdered. I do not pride myself on my eloquence, and so I will keep this simple.”

Matthew Stover book Heroes Die

The Acts of Caine, Heroes Die (The Acts of Caine: Act of Violence) (1998)
Heroes Die (1998)

Understanding, Time

“You may know you’re going to die, but you won’t know you’re dead.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

Dead

“All living things are afraid to die.”

David Zindell book Neverness

"No, you're exactly wrong, the only truly alive beings are those unafraid to die."
Neverness (1988)

“Any day you wake up, maybe you die.”

Robert Jordan Winter's Heart

Deni
Winter's Heart (9 November 2000)

“If when I die, I am still a dictator, I will certainly go down into the oblivion of all dictators. If, on the other hand, I succeed in establishing a truly stable foundation for a democratic government, I will live forever in every home in China.”

Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) Chinese politician and military leader

Taiwan's Modernization: Americanization and Modernizing Confucian Manifestations, Wei-Bin Zhang, 2003, World Scientific, 2003, 177, 9814486132, 23 May 2021 https://books.google.com/books?id=J3BpDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA177,

Home

“I do thank our Savior that I was allowed to suffer for Him, and that I may also die for Him.”

Franz Jägerstätter (1907–1943) martyr, conscientious objector

Franz to Franzisk https://www.dioezese-linz.at/dl/NopsJKJkkMkNJqx4KoJK/Shining_Example_9_trial_pdf (9 August 1943)

Suffering

“Men, I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die. In the time that it takes us to die, other forces and commanders can come and take our place.”

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first President of Turkey

Orders to the 57th Infantry Regiment, at the Battle of Gallipoli (25 April 1915); as quoted in Studies in Battle Command https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/combat-studies-institute/csi-books/battles.pdf by Combat Studies Institute, US Army Command and General Staff College, p. 89; also quoted in Turkey (2007) by Verity Campbell, p. 188 Variant translation: I am not ordering you to fight, I am ordering you to die.

Men, Time

“To risk death willingly, to venture forth knowing that in so doing you may cease to exist is an unnatural act. To take the life of a fellow human being or to watch your closet comrades die exacts a profound emotional toll.”

James Mattis (1950) 26th and current United States Secretary of Defense; United States Marine Corps general

Source: Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead (2019), p. 31

Life, Death

“It's just creepy to have an ex out there after things have ended badly. They have a lot of information. Anyone who's seen my dick and met my parents needs to die. I can't have them roaming around.”

John Mulaney (1982) American actor and comedian

The Comeback Kid (2015)

Parent

“A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. For example: Four guys go down a trail. A grenade sails out. One guy jumps on it and takes the blast, but it's a killer grenade and everybody dies anyway. Before they die, though, one of the dead guys says, "The fuck you do that for?"”

Tim O'Brien book The Things They Carried

and the jumper says, "Story of my life, man" and other guys start to smile but he's dead. That's a true story that never happened.
The Things They Carried (1990), How to Tell a True War Story

Truth, Lie, Guy, Dead

“When you learn how to die, you learn how to live.”

Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie (1997)

Learning

“If I am to die, I would rather die fighting on the left.”

David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Remark to Herbert Samuel, explaining his opposition to Liberal politicians joining the National Government (5 October 1931), quoted in John Campbell, Lloyd George: The Goat in the Wilderness, 1922–1931 (1977), p. 301
Leader of the Independent Liberals

Fight

“The man is making preparations for a year, and does not know that he will die before evening. And I remembered God's second saying, "Learn what is not given to man."”

Leo Tolstoy book What Men Live By

'What dwells in man" I already knew. Now I learnt what is not given him. It is not given to man to know his own needs.
Source: What Men Live By (1881), Ch. XI

God, Learning

“He who does not wish to die cannot have wished to live.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter XXX: On conquering the conqueror

“Most men ebb and flow in wretchedness between the fear of death and the hardships of life; they are unwilling to live, and yet they do not know how to die.”

Seneca the Younger book Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium (Moral Letters to Lucilius), Letter IV: On the terrors of death

Life, Death, Men, Fear

“It is better to die of hunger than to receive aid and be compelled to do things that are contrary to God's desire.”

Polycarp Pengo (1944) Catholic cardinal

Tanzanian cardinal: Reject ideological colonization through foreign aid https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/40079/tanzanian-cardinal-reject-ideological-colonization-through-foreign-aid (December 5, 2018)

Hunger, God

“We are what our ancestors have been, and to destroy that destroys the very reason that people fight and die and sacrifice to preserve this country.”

Robert Wilkie (1962) 10th United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Exclusive — Robert Wilkie: Democrats Want to Rewrite VA Motto to Remove Language from Lincoln’s Second Inaugural https://www.breitbart.com/radio/2021/05/31/va-robert-wilkie-abraham-lincoln-second-inaugural-veterans-affairs/ (31 May 2021)

People, Fight, Country

“America has created the evil that is attacking it. The evil will not disappear even if I die and Osama dies and others die. This is U.S. policy. The U.S. should step back and review its policy. It should stop trying to impose its empire on the rest of the world, especially on Islamic countries.”

Mohammed Omar (1959–2013) Founder and former leader of the Taliban

Interview by Spozhmai Maiwandi

World, Evil, Country

“I leave to the oppressors of humanity a terrible testament, which I proclaim with the independence befitting one whose career is so nearly ended; it is the awful truth: “Thou shalt die!””

Maximilien Robespierre (1758–1794) French revolutionary lawyer and politician

Last Speech to the National Convention (26 July 1794)

Truth

“Many individual immune systems will be compromised by the hardships of the Long Emergency and disease will seize the opportunities presented, as it always has. […] Millions of human beings are going to die.”

James Howard Kunstler book The Long Emergency

Source: The Long Emergency (2005), Chapter 5, p. 182.

Disease

“These unfortunate patients must die but rather because, in the opinion of some department, on the testimony of some commission, they have become 'worthless life' because according to this testimony they are 'unproductive national comrades.'”

Clemens August Graf von Galen (1878–1946) German count, Bishop of Münster, and cardinal, important figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism

The argument goes: they can no longer produce commodities, they are like an old machine that no longer works, they are like an old horse which has become incurably lame, they are like a cow which no longer gives milk.
Speech against Nazi euthanasia (August 3, 1941)

Life

“I feel it is really different to be there at a show. It is such a great feeling and I hope that doesn’t die with the Internet as so many other things have. Go out, support those bands, have a beer, listen to some live music and don’t forget about it!”

Allison Robertson (1979) American musician

Round and Round with The Donnas: An Interview with Allison Robertson https://www.iconvsicon.com/2008/03/07/round-and-round-with-the-donnas-an-interview-with-allison-robertson/ (7 March 2008)

Hope, Music, Feeling, Beer

“The highest obligation of a soldier is not to die in war but to live through it.”

Suraj Sani (1996) Nigerian writer, Spoken word artist

P. 127. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/10937449-the-highest-obligation-of-a-soldier-is-not-to-die

War

“Hail the heavenly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.”

Charles Wesley (1707–1788) English Methodist and hymn writer

"Hymn for Christmas-Day"
Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739)

Life, Peace, Birth, Light

“The appeal not to get vaccinated is a call to die substantially - you do not take vaccine, you get sick, you die - or you make die - you do not take vaccine, you get sick, you infect, he/she dies - this it is.”

Mario Draghi (1947) Italian banker and economist

www.governo.it/it/articolo/conferenza-stampa-draghi-cartabia-speranza/17515
July 22, 2021 - As Prime Minister of Italy, regarding the "vaccines" against Sars-Cov-2 / Covid-19
Original: (it) (Italian language) L'appello a non vaccinarsi è un appello a morire sostanzialmente - non ti vaccini, ti ammali, muori - oppure fai morire - non ti vaccini, ti ammali, contagi lui lei muore -, questo è.

“My life it's self is a movie that I must tell through the lens before I die - Edy kasawuli”

Edykasawuli7

Life

“I die happy for at least the world will be able to say that I have employed every effort to destroy the enemies of the Muhammedan faith.”

Aurangzeb (1618–1707) Sixth Mughal Emperor

Aurangzeb, just before his death, as quoted from Niccolao Manucci, Storia do Mogor; or, Mogul India 1653-1708 https://archive.org/details/storiadomogororm04manu/page/398/mode/2up, Vol. 4, p. 398.

Happiness, World, Faith, Effort

“Old habits did not just die hard. They refused to die at all.”

Charles Sheffield book Transcendence

Source: The Heritage Universe, Transcendence (1992), Chapter 7, “The Torvil Anfract” (p. 70)

“Men were born to die! Life has only one purpose: to understand the sense of your own misery.”

Menotti Lerro (1980) Italian poet

Donna Giovanna, Act IV, scene iii.

Life, Men, Understanding, Sense

“I’ve never been afraid to die. Death in my dreams is a walk, compared to what we call life. If I have to fall, I want to do it my way, without anybody supporting me or pushing me.”

Menotti Lerro (1980) Italian poet

Donna Giovanna, Act IV, scene iii.
Theater Quotes

Life, Death, Dreams, Way

“We were born as a blank page and we will die as a black page.”

Menotti Lerro (1980) Italian poet

Si nasce come una pagina bianca e si muore come una pagina nera.

“Time might fly
girls may cry
lights may die
but the skies don't lie
It'll all make perfect sense
if you follow me
Come follow me now”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"Skies Don't Lie" (song) ("Skies Don't Lie" on YouTube (with lyrics)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJToHBj8Eb4 Studio albums, Playing in the Shadows (2011)

Lie, Girl, Sense, Light

“I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square. His successor will pick up the shards of a ruined society and slowly help rebuild civilization, as the Church has done so often in human history."”

Francis George (1937–2015) Catholic cardinal

Replying to a question about the secularization of Western culture in a meeting with a group of priests on circa May 2010. Source: The Myth and the Reality of 'I'll Die in My Bed', Tim Drake, National Catholic Register, October 24, 2012, November 21, 2014 http://www.ncregister.com/blog/tim-drake/the-myth-and-the-reality-of-ill-die-in-my-bed,

History, Help

“In life we will smile, laugh, cry, bleed, die and finally laugh again.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Life, Smile, Cry

“Those who claim that life begins at forty, they can't recall history, that Alexander became and died as the greatest without reaching this peak age. They also do not know those who die in their childhood.”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

Life, Age, History, Childhood

“Who is dying for whom? You keep claiming that someone else already died for your sins, then why are you going to die again?”

Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author

“I’ve gone through so many dark periods of my life, but my art has always been there. I firmly believe in this way of living, and I hope to die like this.”

Tan Kheng Hua (1963) Singaporean actress

"Tan Kheng Hua Talks ‘Kung Fu,’ ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ and Living for Her Art" in Observer (22 April 2021) https://observer.com/2021/04/tan-kheng-hua-kung-fu-interview-crazy-rich-asians/

Life, Hope, Art, Way

“No. A Liberal I was born and a Liberal I die. I will not join Labour.”

David Lloyd George (1863–1945) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Remarks to Tom Clarke, the editor of the Daily News (14 October 1926), quoted in Tom Clarke, My Lloyd George Diary (1939), p. 23
Leader of the Liberal Party in the House of Commons

“Be assured I will die as I have lived, and that you will have no reason to blush for me.”

Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763–1798) Irish politician

Letter to his wife, Matilda Tone (10 November 1798), quoted in T. W. Moody, R. B. McDowell and C. J. Woods (eds.), The Writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone, 1763–98, Volume III: France, the Rhine, Lough Swilly and Death of Tone, January 1797 to November 1798 (2007), p. 403

“Ultimately there's one judgement that’s supremely important and that's before the good God when you die. Now if I had thought that death was the end of everything, that the ultimately important thing was my earthly reputation, well obviously my approach would have been different.”

George Pell (1941–2023) Australian Catholic cardinal and convicted sex offender

In EWTN interview, Cardinal Pell discusses acquittal, Vatican finances https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/46976/in-ewtn-interview-cardinal-pell-discusses-acquittal-vatican-finances (December 21, 2020)

Death, God

“We require the king for his favours to us
At Yellow Gold Tower,
Clutching our Dragons of Jade
We die for our lord.”

Li He (790–816) Chinese writer

(zh-TW) 報君黃金臺上意，提攜玉龍為君死。
Closing lines
"Ballad of the Grand Warden of Goose Gate" (《雁門太守行》)

“Heart of my heart, we cannot die!
Love triumphant in flower and tree,
Every life that laughs at the sky
Tells us nothing can cease to be:
One, we are one with the song to-day,
One with the clover that scents the world,
One with the Unknown, far away,
One with the stars, when earth grows old.”

Alfred Noyes (1880–1958) English poet

Unity, § II
The Golden Hynde and Other Poems (1914)

Love, Life, World, Star

“If I were a metaphor I'd be a truth. I am invincible, I am never defeated. I am immortal, I never die, I'm invisible, nobody can cut me, I am for eternity, I have no end, I am a stone's line, no one can erase me, the time can change, but i never change, I'm the truth, no one can deny me.”

Shabdon Ka Jahan

Truth, Change, Time

“That enthusiasm exists because the French people do not want to die. It is there because there is hope.”

Éric Zemmour (1958) French essayist

Source: Eric Zemmour: "If I don't run, it will be seen as desertion, as treason" https://palnws.be/2021/09/eric-zemmour-als-ik-me-geen-kandidaat-zou-stellen-zal-het-worden-gezien-als-desertie-als-verraad/ Context: I am aware of the enthusiasm that my potential Presidential candidacy can evoke.

People, Hope

“I shall maintain my loyalty to the country and honesty to the people. I will perform my duties to the best of my abilities with dedication, for the prosperity, peace and lasting security of the Thai kingdom, till the day I die.”

Vajiralongkorn (1952) King of Thailand

Source: "Pledge during an oath-taking ceremony at the ordination hall of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha after his investiture as Crown Prince" https://www.bangkokpost.com/specials/royal-coronation/royal_speeches.php (28 July 1972)

People, Peace, Loyalty, Country

“Unwind my riddle.
Cruel as hawks the hours fly;
Wounded men seldom come home to die;
The hard waves see an arm flung high;
Scorn hits strong because of a lie;
Yet there exists a mystic tie.
Unwind my riddle.”

Stephen Crane (1871–1900) American novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist

Source: Epigraph in " The Clan of No Name http://web.archive.org/20040803101258/www.geocities.com/stephen_crane_us/clannoname.html" (1899); published in the anthology Wounds in the Rain (1900)

Men, Lie, Home, Strong

“A good death. Well, he thought, given that you had to die, why want a bad one?”

Iain Banks Culture series

Source: Culture series, Matter (2008), Chapter 27 “The Core” (p. 551)

Death

“Attachment to the body causes fear of death. It is the strongest attachment. Even a newborn infant has this attachment. To overcome the fear of death it is necessary to accept that we all have to die.”

Baba Hari Dass (1923–2018) master yogi, author, builder, commentator of Indian spiritual tradition

Source: Silence Speaks, from the chalkboard of Baba Hari Dass (1977), p.39
Context: Q: What can I do to overcome my fear of death?

Death, Fear

“Angels in the house always die in the books they preside over because early ascension into heaven is their reward—and because their goodness makes them boring.”

Maureen Corrigan (1955) American journalist and writer

Source: Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading (2005), Chapter 4 (p. 141)

Books, Angels, Housing

“As you know, wars always make certain people wealthier. A war has two functions: it serves for some to die and for other to become wealthy.”

José Hermano Saraiva (1919–2012) Historian, Jurist, Politician

"Horizontes da Memória - Mangualde: De à Cinco Mil Anos para Cá"
Original: (pt) Como sabem, as guerras fazem sempre enriquecer certas pessoas. Uma guerra tem duas utilidades: serve para uns morrerem e para outros ficarem ricos.

War, People

“I’d rather die gloriously in battle than from a virus. In a way it doesn’t matter. But it kinda does.”

Paul Gosar (1958) American politician and dentist

Opining on Twitter, as quoted in * 2020-03-09
J.D. Simkins
Military Times
Congressman, a former dentist, says he’d ‘rather die gloriously in battle than from’ coronavirus.
Source: https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/military-culture/2020/03/09/congressman-a-former-dentist-says-hed-rather-die-gloriously-in-battle-than-from-coronavirus/

Way

“Scientists try to eliminate their false theories, they try to let them die in their stead. The believer—whether animal or man—perishes with his false beliefs.”

Karl Popper (1902–1994) Austrian-British philosopher of science

Source: Epistemology Without A Knowing Subject (1967)

Animals, Falseness

“The Americans should know that the storm of plane attacks will not abate, with God's permission. There are thousands of the Islamic nation's youths who are eager to die just as the Americans are eager to live.”

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith (1965) One of Al-Qaeda's official spokesmen

Source: In full: Al-Qaeda statement http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1590350.stm (10th October, 2001)

God, Youth

“Every time I do a show, I die a little bit, but no shit is worth doing unless you're willing to die for it.”

Madonna (1958) American singer, songwriter, and actress

From Madonna Confessions book by Guy Oseary http://www.powerhousebooks.com/madonna_confessions/

Time

“The ultimate expression of sovereignty resides, to a large degree, in the power and the capacity to dictate who may live and who must die.”

Achille Mbembe (1957) Cameroonian political scientist

Source: "Necropolitics," as translated by Libby Meintjes, Public Culture, Volume 15, Number 1, Winter 2003, pp. 11-40

“The more you succeed in making out of yourself, the more bitter a thing it is to have to die.”

Robert Silverberg book The Book of Skulls

Source: The Book of Skulls (1972), Chapter 15 (p. 62)

“Not one American soldier is going to die on that goddamned beach.”

George Marshall (1880–1959) US military leader, Army Chief of Staff

Source: reaction to Churchill's pitch at the Cairo Conference in November 1943 for the Americans to join in an assault on Rhodes. quoted by Correl, John T. “Churchill’s Southern Strategy.” Air Force Magazine, January 2013 https://www.airforcemag.com/article/0113churchill/

“Whenever you can, act as a liberator. Freedom, dignity, wealth — these three together constitute the greatest happiness of humanity. If you bequeath all three to your people, their love for you will never die.”

Cyrus the Great (-600–-530 BC) King and founder of the Achaemenid Empire

Source: In Xenophon's Cyrus the Great: The Arts of Leadership and War https://books.google.com/books?id=w-WNO_TOgOQC&dq=Xenophon%27s%20Cyrus%20the%20Great%3A%20The%20Arts%20of%20Leadership%20and%20War&hl=fr&source=gbs_book_other_versions (2006) p. 116, also quoted in "9 Timeless Leadership Lessons from Cyrus the Great" http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanholiday/2012/04/19/9-timeless-leadership-lessons-from-cyrus-the-great/ at Forbes.com (19 April 2012)

Love, Happiness, People, Freedom

“I shall eat cheese before I die contented.”

James Wolfe (1727–1759) British Army officer

Source: Last words, on hearing of the defeat of the French at Quebec. Quoted in Francis Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe

“And when old words die out on the tongue,
new melodies break forth from the heart,
and where the old tracks are lost,
new country is revealed with its wonders.
So, don’t give up on love
when it seems that all is lost,
for there is always hope
if we’re prepared to pay the cost”

Alexis Karpouzos (1967)

Source: https://twitter.com/AKarpouzos/status/1467166433176084481

Love, Hope, Heart, Country

“Most people: they take birth. Earn a living, and, then, they die. Never follow them.”

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015) 11th President of India, scientist and science administrator

People, Birth

“Was it better to die in the illusion of sunshine and warmth or face death in a cold darkness of reality? Was it better to die in happy ignorance or terrified knowledge? The answer, if you’re a Londoner, is that it’s better not to die at all.”

Ben Aaronovitch book Whispers Under Ground

Source: Whispers Under Ground (2012), Chapter 21, “Oxford Circus” (p. 224)

Death, Happiness, Knowledge, Reality

“I read often but, the genre I go to is mystery. I like to write my own stories but as you know, people often die in mysteries, so someone often dies in my stories. Also, I like to go to art galleries on my day offs.”

Noa Tsurushima (2001) Japanese actress

People, Art, Reading

“the words have come and gone,
I sit ill.
the phone rings, the cats sleep.
Linda vacuums.
I am waiting to live,
waiting to die.
I wish I could ring in some bravery.
it's a lousy fix”

Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer

Source: Betting on the Muse: Poems and Stories (1996), Lines from "So now?" - p.402 (circa 1994. He died in March 1994, aged 73.)

Cats, Sleep, Waiting

“It is not in the interest of the virus to kill the host because it (the virus) will die as well. Through their evolutionary process, viruses tend to accommodate the hosts to live in them. This means they want to cause mild diseases to propagate and that will ensure they can survive.”

Sazaly Abu Bakar researcher

Source: Sazaly Abu Bakar (2020) cited in " 'More studies needed on virus mutations' https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/03/572140/more-studies-needed-virus-mutations" on New Straits Times, 6 March 2020.

Disease

“He thought he was gonna die,
But he didn't.
She thought she just couldn't cope,
But she did.
We thought it would be so hard,
But it wasn't...
It wasn't easy, though!”

Kate Bush (1958) British recording artist; singer, songwriter, musician and record producer

Source: Song lyrics, The Sensual World (1989)

“Businesses that fail to change die, while their men move on. Militaries that fail to change move on, while their men die.”

Brig. Gen. Eran Ortal (1971)

Source: {DCJ 16, July 2018}

Men, Business, Change

“He was a cut flower in a vase; fair to see, yet bound to die, and to die very soon if the water was not constantly renewed.”

Winston S. Churchill book The World Crisis

Concerning Admiral von Spee’s East Asia Squadron
The World Crisis, 1911–1914 : Chapter XIII (On The Oceans), Churchill, Butterworth (1923), p. 295
The World Crisis (1923–1931)

Flowers, Water

“Are you truly living life or just paying bills until you die?”

Jay Samit (1961) American businessman

Future Proofing You (2021)

Life

“You think you can be as heroic as he was, simply by dying. But he doesn’t take courage to die. That’s easy. It takes courage to live.”

Lisa Goldstein (1953) fantasy and science fiction writer

Source: The Red Magician (1982), Chapter 9 (p. 137)

Courage, Thinking

“It's not my time to die.”

Serge Gellé (1964) Malagasy politician

Source: Serge Gellé (2021) cited in: " Madagascar: Minister 'swims for 12 hours' after helicopter crashes at sea https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59749005" in BBC News, 23 December 2021.

Time

“Power is habit-forming. We grew addicted to it. Few things survive the centuries’ slow decay: senses grow dull; passions grow weak; and ideals die. Only the taste for power lives on as an excuse for survival.”

Jack Williamson book Star Bridge

Source: Star Bridge (1955), Chapter 20, “Prime Mover” (p. 275)

Sense, Passion

“I had the evening to kill, but it didn’t want to die and fought back.”

Jack Finney book From Time to Time

Source: From Time to Time (1995), Chapter 20 (p. 212)

“Whatever an education is, it should make you a unique individual, not a conformist; it should furnish you with an original spirit with which to tackle the big challenges; it should allow you to find values which will be your roadmap through life; it should make you spiritually rich, a person who loves whatever you are doing, wherever you are, whomever you are with; it should teach you what is important, how to live and how to die.”

John Taylor Gatto book Dumbing Us Down

Source: Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling (1992), pp. 67-68

Love, Life, Education, Personality

“[T]he woman's right to decide for herself... is now subject to regulation, and possibly even prohibition, by our elected representatives. ...Even as the public agenda is stretched to address... questions as the right to die, no issue threatens to divide us politically in... as powerful a way as the abortion issue...”

Laurence Tribe (1941) American lawyer and law school professor

Source: Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes (1990), Approaching Abortion Anew

Way, Question

“Half dead’s a lot worse than dead, when you know you’re gonna die in another three, six days no matter what anyone else does.”

Samuel R. Delany book They Fly at Çiron

Source: They Fly at Çiron (1993), Chapter 6 (p. 166)

Dead

“I poured my heart out to you, let down my guard, swear to God
I'll blow my brains in your lap, lay here and die in your arms
Drop to my knees and I'm pleading, I'm trying to stop you from leaving”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Space Bound"
2010s, Recovery (2010)

God, Heart

“Animals who die for your dinner table die alone, in terror, in sadness and in pain. The killing is merciless and inhumane. … Animals suffer from pain and fear just as much as you do. Most spend their last hours locked in a truck, packed into a cage with hundreds of other terrified animals and then cruelly pushed into a blood soaked death chamber. Animals which are a year old are often far more rational – and capable of logical thought – than six-week-old babies. Pigs and sheep are far more intelligent than small children.”

Vernon Coleman (1946) British doctor

"Twenty One Reasons For Being A Vegetarian" (2007), in vernoncoleman.com http://www.vernoncoleman.com/twentyoner.htm.

Death, Pain, Children, Sadness

“Only the good die young, so I’m destined to be immortal, I guess.”

Charles E. Gannon (1960) American novelist

Source: Fire with Fire (2013), Chapter 16 (p. 206)

“It’s scary to think about, but we may finally find unity as a species in self-destruction. The first minute of World War III will render nations, races, and religions meaningless concepts because the first thing to die in nuclear fire will be all our beloved imaginary borders.”

Guy P. Harrison (1963) American skeptic author

War, World, Religion, Thinking

“So what use are we? Burnside hopes to die exhausted in a cathouse, with the sweet-sweet taste of bourbon on his tongue. My own ambition is less raunchy. I want, at age ninety, to be gunned down while storming the Congress.”

Jack Cady (1932–2004) American writer

Source: Kilroy Was Here (1996), p. 142

Age, Hope

“People not only live by symbols, but die by them, as wars of religion and nationalism attest.”

A. C. Grayling (1949) English philosopher

Source: Life, Sex, and Ideas: The Good Life Without God (2002), Chapter 4, “Symbols” (p. 19)

War, People, Religion

“A good many men will be killed, however, as long as no man can prove to me that a man can die more than once, I am not inclined to regard death for the individual as a misfortune.”

Alfred von Waldersee (1832–1904) Prussian Field Marshal

Waldersee in November, 1877, as quoted by Gordon Alexander Craig, "Germany, 1866-1945" (Oxford University Press, 1978) p.133

Death, Men

“I think that might not have been enough, were it not for me being my family ’s only hope. Because they were also dying, in a different way: financially, mentally. And I thought, I can’t die. Literally I can’t die.”

Ocean Vuong (1988) Vietnamese American poet, essayist and novelist

On being surrounded by friends taken by the opioid epidemic and his quest to be the breadwinner for his family in “Ocean Vuong: ‘As a child I would ask: What’s napalm?’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/09/ocean-vuong-on-earth-we-are-briefly-gorgeous-interview in The Guardian (2019 Jun 9)

Family, Hope, Way, Thinking