» On death

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Varied quotations on the bloke with the scythe

Because I could not stop for Death—
He kindly stopped for me—
The Carriage held but just Ourselves—
And Immortality.

Emily Dickinson . 1830-1886 . American poet . 479

At the round earths imagin’d corners, blow
Your trumpets, Angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go,

John Donne . 1572-1631 . English poet and cleric . Holy sonnet VII

For it is not death or pain that is to be feared, but the fear of pain or death.

Epictetus . c55-135 . Greek Stoic philosopher . Discourses

War is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.

Robert Fisk . 1946- . English journalist . The great war for civilisation

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Evelyn Beatrice Hall [writing under the pseudonym of Stephen G Tallentyre] . 1868-1956 . English writer . The friends of Voltaire (1906) . a summation of Voltaire’s beliefs on freedom of thought and expression, as she understood them . This is very often misattributed to Voltaire

Sleep is good, death is better; but of course, the best thing would to have never been born at all.

Heinrich Heine . 1797-1856 . German romantic poet

Dying is something we human beings do continuously, not just at the end of our physical lives on this earth.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross . 1926-2004 . Swiss psychiatrist . Death: the final stage of growth

It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we’re alive—to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross . as above

Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.

Anaïs Nin . 1903-1977 . French-born author. DH Lawrence: an unprofessional study

The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.

Erich Maria Remarque . 1898-1970 . German author (of All quiet on the western front) . This is often misattributed to Josef Stalin

Are you aware that rushing toward a goal is a sublimated death wish? It’s no coincidence we call them ‘deadlines’.

Tom Robbins . 1936- . American novelist . Half asleep in frog pajamas

Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels?

Bertrand Russell . 1872-1970 . British philosopher, mathematician and historian . Russell-Einstein manifesto (1955)

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.

Elie Wiesel . 1928- . Jewish-American professor, political activist . article, US news & world report (1986)

On death

Because I could not stop for Death— He kindly stopped for me— The Carriage held but just Ourselves— And Immortality.

At the round earths imagin’d corners, blow Your trumpets, Angels, and arise, arise From death, you numberless infinities Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go,