Life and Death
‹ 1 · Outline · 3 ›
2.The universality and certainty of death
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 38–39Death is common to all; better to labor and reach home than to perish at one's own hearth like Agamemnon.read · scan
- p. 175Odysseus wishes Arete well until old age and death, which come to all mankind.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 714–715All things, including wife, child and wealth, are subject to birth, old age, disease and death.read · scan
The Story of the Volsungs and NiblungsVol. 49
- p. 263Volsung says once alone must all men die and none escape that season.read · scan
- p. 294–295Sigurd says each man dies once for all.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, That to Philosophise Is to Learne How to DieVol. 32
- p. 10–12Death is inevitable and inescapable; fear of it torments like Tantalus's stone and spoils every pleasure.read · scan
- p. 13–15Death overtakes coward and brave alike; no armor shields us, so we should foresee it rather than ignore it.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 96Death pursues us from infancy and gathers all our past joy and woe.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 77–78Men are like prisoners in chains condemned to death, awaiting their turn.read · scan
- p. 138Fallen man is subject to mortality.read · scan
- p. 156The object of attachment will die, so cannot satisfy.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to the English DictionaryVol. 39
- p. 201–202Men grow old and die, so the elixir of long life is as vain as embalming a language.read · scan
- p. 204Life may be lengthened by care though death cannot be defeated, as with tongues.read · scan
Samuel Johnson, Preface to ShakespeareVol. 39
- p. 238–239Achilles's remark to his captive: all must suffer the mortality that awaits even him, a lesson for critics' patience.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Inaugural Address at EdinburghVol. 25
- p. 387–388Verse pictures the dark Portal as goal of all mortals, with graves silent beneath.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, Sir Walter ScottVol. 25
- p. 448Scott's decline is a tragedy, as all life is; the wife's dying is a sterner visitation.read · scan
2a.Death as leveller of kings, heroes and commoners
See also: Wealth 3a · Monarchy 6c · Man 5a · Honor 3a
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 44–45Blood once spilled cannot be called back; Zeus struck down Asclepius for raising the dead.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 104–105One dies at ease, another in bitterness; both lie alike in the dust with the worm.read · scan
- p. 117–119Job knows God will bring him to death, the house appointed for all living.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 201Wise and fool alike die; man in honor is like the beasts that perish, though God will redeem the psalmist from Sheol.read · scan
- p. 246–247Even those called gods and sons of the Most High will die like men.read · scan
Ecclesiastes; or, The PreacherVol. 44
- p. 337The wise man dies like the fool; the Preacher hates life.read · scan
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 166Ruined cities remind him that man is mortal; Tullia would have died in any case, having had life's blessings.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 205–206Physicians, seers, conquerors and philosophers all died; death is a landing from a voyage.read · scan
- p. 220Death after many years differs little from death tomorrow; all, physicians, heroes, tyrants, cities, die, and human things are ephemeral.read · scan
- p. 231Soon thou wilt be ashes or a skeleton.read · scan
- p. 236Alexander and his groom by death came to the same state.read · scan
- p. 241All the famous and gifted of every kind are long dust; mortality levels all.read · scan
- p. 245–246All bodies are carried off by the torrent of substance; time swallows Socrates and Epictetus; we will soon be forgotten and forget.read · scan
- p. 249Death cannot be escaped by food, drink or magic arts.read · scan
- p. 250–251Those who suffered and complained before us are now nowhere; mortality is a reason to stop agitation.read · scan
- p. 254Soon thou wilt be nobody, like Hadrian and Augustus.read · scan
- p. 257A litany of the dead, even the sharp-witted, shows all is ephemeral and the self will dissolve.read · scan
- p. 258Augustus' whole court and whole races are dead; someone must be the last.read · scan
- p. 271All will quickly perish; early and late deaths end in the same condition.read · scan
BeowulfVol. 49
- p. 53Strength will fade by sickness, sword, fire, flood or age; death overwhelms even the hero.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 289The herald's cry that the king will die reminds the ruler of mortality.read · scan
- p. 299–301The inscription says death has destroyed lords who lost their dominion, leaving them in the dust.read · scan
- p. 301–302Inscriptions and tombs warn that all who feasted and fought end in dust, and man must consider before drinking the cup of death.read · scan
- p. 302Death's appointed time cannot be prevented by stratagems, troops or friends; life is a journey to the grave.read · scan
- p. 302Destroyer of delights came upon the king's family and thousand children despite a thousand-year life; death takes great and small.read · scan
- p. 302–304Neither armies nor treasure could buy one more day of life; the king submitted to death.read · scan
- p. 304–305Death disuniter of mankind removed the king from grandeur; a table records thousands of kings now in graves.read · scan
- p. 310–311The deserted city with owls and ravens evokes mortality and the loss of its inhabitants.read · scan
- p. 312The tablet warns that all must drink the cup of death; kings and armies have gone to the grave.read · scan
- p. 315Dead armed men sit on benches in the passage, the city's guard long lifeless.read · scan
- p. 315–316The explorers find a city whose whole population lies dead, dried in their shops and palace, as examples for the admonished.read · scan
- p. 317Verses warn that every dweller in a house must depart; the grave answers that beauty and pleasure end in being eaten.read · scan
- p. 319–320Inscription tells man death will seize his soul; kings and mighty rulers all died and became rotten bones.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 98Death at the play's end takes from all what fortune takes from one; it is madness to save sorrow from the shipwreck.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusVol. 19
- p. 237–238Faustus says the dead princes are consumed to dust, so only spirit likenesses can be shown.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 172–174Hamlet says king and beggar are two dishes to one table, both food for worms.read · scan
- p. 192–193Hamlet muses on skulls thrown up by the grave-digger: politician, courtier reduced to Lady Worm'sread · scan
- p. 193–194Hamlet muses on the lawyer's skull; all his land purchases end in a grave's lengthread · scan
- p. 195Hamlet holds Yorick's skull, horrified at mortality; even the beloved jester and Alexander come to base usesread · scan
- p. 196Hamlet traces Alexander and Caesar to dust and loam, stopping a beer-barrel or patching a wallread · scan
Francis Beaumont, On the Tombs in Westminster Abbey; Master Francis Beaumont's Letter to Ben JonsonVol. 40
- p. 319–320Royal bones in the Abbey teach mortality: kings die as men, their greatness gives no trust.read · scan
James Shirley, The Glories of Our Blood and State; The Last ConquerorVol. 40
- p. 349–350Death levels all, kings and commoners alike; famine, plague, war and even a kiss serve him.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 71Death ends even the noblest, most heroic life.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 384–385Death inevitably deprives us of gold, science and reputation, so treasures of this life cannot satisfy.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 26–29Ventidius imagines Antony shrunk to ashes in a narrow urn, empire reduced to the earth.read · scan
Joseph Addison, Westminster AbbeyVol. 27
- p. 78–79Tombs and a fresh-dug grave show that all lives reduce to birth and death, and bodies mingle in common dust.read · scan
- p. 80Tombs teach the vanity of grieving for those we must soon follow, and that all will be contemporaries at the last day.read · scan
Thomas Gray, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 443–445The graves of village forefathers show that glory, power, beauty and wealth all await the inevitable hour; paths of glory lead to the grave.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 33–34The skull recalls a brain that once sought truth and wandered vexed; mortality frames his despair.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Hermann and DorotheaVol. 19
- p. 400–401Thought of the coffin that receives impatient and patient alike is used to put waiting in perspective.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 373–374A few years must lay us in silent dust.read · scan
Sir Walter Scott, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 744–747Proud Maisie is told by the robin that her bridal bed is the grave, death awaiting the proud.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 327–328She reminds them that all must die and will one day want mercy from God.read · scan
John Keats, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 893–895The old Beadsman and Angela die; the ballad's knight is pale and withering, death-pale kings in his dream.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 284–285The caravan is buried in sand, leaving bones as the only trace that men were there.read · scan
Edward FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám of NaishápúrVol. 41
- p. 945–947Dust to dust: sultans and hunters are gone, and all who feast will descend to earth; the flower once blown dies forever.read · scan
Robert Browning, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1080–1082Venetian revellers died, their pleasures ended; the music says 'dust and ashes' and the speaker feels chilly and old.read · scan
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1159–1161One death for peasant and king alike.read · scan
2b.The brevity and vanity of human life
See also: Time 4b · Man 5b
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 265Penelope remarks that man's life is brief.read · scan
Aeschylus, AgamemnonVol. 8
- p. 10–11Old age is likened to childhood's weakness and to a dream lost in daylight; strength wanes with life's seasons.read · scan
- p. 57–59Cassandra sees mortal life as a shadow wiped out by one stroke; the Chorus notes bliss is never satiate.read · scan
Aeschylus, Prometheus BoundVol. 8
- p. 186–188Chorus calls man's life brief, powerless and fleeting as dreams, bound in fetters.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 80–81Job's life is a breath, swifter than a weaver's shuttle; he goes to Sheol and returns no more.read · scan
- p. 84–85Job's days flee swifter than a post; his soul is weary of life.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 190–191Asks to know his end; life is handbreadths, every man at best is vanity, and he shall be no more.read · scan
- p. 242Man is but flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.read · scan
- p. 255–258Man's mortality: none lives and sees not death; humans turned to destruction, days like a sigh.read · scan
- p. 270–271Man's days short as grass and flower; wind passes and he is gone.read · scan
- p. 325Man's days pass away like a shadow.read · scan
Euripides, The BacchaeVol. 8
- p. 382–384Life is such a little thing; the present departs and the dreams men cling to do not come.read · scan
- p. 410–411Chorus declares that to live is happy and that striving beyond the laws that live is vain; hopes die or are pined for, life's orb strangely graven.read · scan
Plato, The Apology of SocratesVol. 2
- p. 22Men act as though they could be immortal if allowed to live.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 693–694Death overpowers man while he eagerly gathers pleasures, insatiate; life is short.read · scan
- p. 694–695Human life is only a hundred years, yet men live recklessly as if never to grow old and die.read · scan
- p. 695–696The Teacher says life is short; death drags creatures away howling, unsated in senses and lusts.read · scan
Ecclesiastes; or, The PreacherVol. 44
- p. 341–342Life is a vain shadow; an untimely birth is better than a long life without good.read · scan
Virgil, The AeneidVol. 13
- p. 344Gods mourn the miseries of human life as men die in equal measure.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 140–141Compares life to a fair where most seek only fodder while a few contemplate the world and its administrator.read · scan
- p. 167Man is born to die, living briefly in a small tabernacle of flesh, sharing in God's festival procession.read · scan
Pliny the Younger, Letters of PlinyVol. 9
- p. 236Human life is brief; not one of Nero's consuls survives, prompting pity for mortality.read · scan
- p. 309–310Nearness to death reminds a man he is mortal and turns him from envy.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 201Life is nearly finished; every man's life is sufficient.read · scan
- p. 203No man loses any other life than the one he lives.read · scan
- p. 209Life is short and the corner of earth small.read · scan
- p. 217People marrying, warring, hoarding are gone; their lives no longer exist.read · scan
- p. 229Life is a brief interval in endless flux; things vanish into the abyss of past and future, so it is foolish to be vexed.read · scan
- p. 241Do not be dissatisfied that life is only so many years.read · scan
- p. 257The body decays and is diseased; praiser and praised are short-lived, the whole earth a point.read · scan
- p. 282–283Homer's leaves image: the race of men scattered like leaves.read · scan
- p. 283Men and their children are like leaves; brief existence is common to all and soon another will lament you.read · scan
- p. 290Man's life is a moment, and soon we are all dead.read · scan
- p. 296Consider the shortness of life and the boundless abyss of time, and the state of body and soul at death.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 7–8Calls this life a dying life or living death, not knowing whence he came.read · scan
- p. 180–181Human life on earth is all trial, alternating longing for prosperity and fear of adversity.read · scan
- p. 185–186Human life is a trial in which no one is secure; the better may be made worse.read · scan
BeowulfVol. 49
- p. 74All men must leave this transitory life.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, HellVol. 20
- p. 5Midway in mortal life the poet is lost in a wood, dismay near to death; life compared to an arch.read · scan
Dante Alighieri, PurgatoryVol. 20
- p. 272Beatrice's dust-scattered beauty shows the perishable nature of mortal things, which should have drawn him to better realms.read · scan
- p. 280Life is called a race to death.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 238Men are frail, mortal and soon pass away, while Christ remains forever; we are strangers and pilgrims with no continuing city here.read · scan
- p. 239All earthly things pass away and the reader with them; urges not clinging to transient things, with habitation set in heaven.read · scan
- p. 281–282Mortal life, full of miseries and calamities, is questioned as hardly deserving the name of life.read · scan
- p. 301–302Do not fear a man who will die; today he is, tomorrow his place is not found.read · scan
- p. 334Life is exile in the land of the shadow of death amid the dangers of corruptible life.read · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, Preface to the History of the WorldVol. 39
- p. 107Why should heavenly bodies live forever while men rot and die, if all were eternalread · scan
- p. 107Man is the most miserable, eternally mortal, beside the supposed eternal heavensread · scan
Sir Walter Raleigh, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 205–207Written the night before his death; time shuts up the story of our days.read · scan
- p. 207Life is a short comedy; graves are curtains drawn, and we die in earnest.read · scan
Francis Bacon, LifeVol. 40
- p. 348–349Life is brief and miserable; the poem ends wishing not to have been born, or born to die.read · scan
Samuel Daniel, Beauty, Time, and Love: Sonnets; To SleepVol. 40
- p. 220–221Age is the calends of our death.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 129–131Hamlet's satire on old age and his reply 'into my grave?' to the suggestion of leaving the air.read · scan
- p. 199–202A man's life is no more than to say 'One'; the interim is Hamlet's.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of MacbethVol. 46
- p. 345–347Macbeth says that after the king's death nothing in mortality is serious; the wine of life is drawn, only lees remain.read · scan
- p. 388–389Macbeth on his wife's death: life is a walking shadow, a brief candle, a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The TempestVol. 46
- p. 448Prospero says we are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.read · scan
William Drummond, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 326–327Life a bubble that turns to nought; the poet detests life while Death disdains to come.read · scan
Robert Herrick, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 336–338Daffodils' brief life mirrors ours; we die like morning dew.read · scan
- p. 338–339Blossoms show how soon brave things end and glide into the grave.read · scan
- p. 340We grow old and die, becoming fable or shade; delight drowned in endless night.read · scan
Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Life Is a DreamVol. 26
- p. 52We wake to eternal life only when we sleep in death; life is brief as a summer's day.read · scan
- p. 71–73Mortal life is a doubtful dream ended by the Last Trumpet.read · scan
Hymns of the Christian Church: Hymns Based on PsalmsVol. 45
- p. 537–540Men return to dust like flowers withering beneath the mower's hand.read · scan
Pierre Corneille, PolyeucteVol. 26
- p. 110–111Polyeucte calls earthly life an idle dream where nothing endures; death brings endless peace.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 75–76Life's duration is a moment; death is eternal.read · scan
- p. 78–79Life is a tragic play whose last act is death and a little earth.read · scan
- p. 79–80We die alone; life is the frailest thing between us and heaven or hell; possessions slip away.read · scan
- p. 127Dream argument comparing waking life to dreams in experience of happiness and suffering, bearing on the reality of life.read · scan
- p. 127–128Asserts that life is a dream only a little less inconstant than dreams.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, Minor WorksVol. 48
- p. 365Reflects on the fragility of present things and the loss of a beautiful life.read · scan
- p. 411–412Human life is miserably brief and counted from the birth of reason.read · scan
William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 381Asks why man is less durable than his works; earth is not his resting place, so he should build a lasting mansion beyond Time's power.read · scan
Joseph Addison, The Vision of MirzaVol. 27
- p. 73Mirza contemplates the vanity of human life: man is but a shadow and life a dream.read · scan
- p. 74Human life is a bridge of arches with hidden trap-doors through which passers-by fall to death.read · scan
Alexander Pope, Solitude; On a Certain Lady at Court; Essay on ManVol. 40
- p. 407Life offers little more than to look about us and to die; man's time is a moment; proper to wait death as teacher.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 134–135Dryden-derived verses on life: mortals never truly live but wait for life, cursing their first dawn and hoping tomorrow will fulfill them; life as futile expectation.read · scan
Hymns of the Christian Church: Modern HymnsVol. 45
- p. 561–564Lily and rose must fade, as man's age brings sorrow.read · scan
- p. 568–571Life a transient dream ending in death's cold stream.read · scan
Thomas Gray, PoemsVol. 40
- p. 451–453Busy and gay alike flutter through life and leave in dust to rest.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24
- p. 406Sees himself as a fallen oak, stripped of honours, with his posterity gone before him.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 29–31Wagner laments that art is long and life short, that the scholar may die midway in his pursuit; Faust speaks of the life-restoring draught.read · scan
- p. 98–101Faust's desire to shed thirty winters and grow young again.read · scan
- p. 101–104The globe song warns the son that he too must die.read · scan
William Blake, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 587–588Tears become a babe in eternity; some are born to misery, some to delight.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 33–35Men flourish like the morning flower and are cut down; poet fears death and approaching God.read · scan
- p. 168–170Youth pleasant, age creeping with weary joyless years; rejects beginning tales of death.read · scan
- p. 192–194The daisy's fate is compared to maid's and bard's ruin; life's rough ocean whelms the luckless.read · scan
- p. 198–200Laments the losses, fears and tears of declining ageread · scan
- p. 307–309Life is a day sprung from night and lost in darkness.read · scan
- p. 318–320Life a brief day from night to darkness; old age and last sleep of death.read · scan
- p. 545–547Dame Life is described as flickering, feeble and wavering between good and ill, a view of life worn down by sickness.read · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 598–599The eye that has watched over man's mortality gives a sober colouring to sunset.read · scan
Thomas Campbell, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 774–776Life's tide grows rapid as we approach the Falls of Death.read · scan
William Hazlitt, Of Persons One Would Wish to Have SeenVol. 27
- p. 280The essay closes on the breaking-up of the company as a kind of death, the night that saw no dawn.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 863–864Ephemeral insects die without dawn while immortal stars wake again, like the great and the petty among men.read · scan
George Long, The Philosophy of AntoninusVol. 2
- p. 323–324Life is smoke and vapour; death is waiting for a dissolution of elements, to be met with a cheerful mind.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, An Address Delivered before the Senior Class in Divinity CollegeVol. 5
- p. 29When faith in the divine nature fades, life becomes comic or pitiful, and the ideal life survives only as ancient history.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, CirclesVol. 5
- p. 158–159Life is a series of surprises; the growths of the soul are incalculable.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 298–299The girl cuts off the tulips, and the Daisy sighs that it is all over with them.read · scan
John Ruskin, Sesame and LiliesVol. 28
- p. 98–99A man's life is as vapor; only what he saw and knew is worth remembering.read · scan
Arthur Hugh Clough, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1119–1121Life as stream descending into death, the inevitable sea whose nature we cannot guess.read · scan
- p. 1121–1122Ship's voyage between unknown origin and unknown destination as image of life.read · scan
2c.The uncertainty of the hour of death
Homer, The OdysseyVol. 22
- p. 144Elpenor, drunk and careless, falls from Circe's roof and dies; his spirit goes down to Hades.read · scan
Confucius, The Sayings of ConfuciusVol. 44
- p. 19Master laments Po-niu's fatal illness as our lot.read · scan
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 76–77Men are destroyed between morning and evening and die without wisdom.read · scan
Sophocles, Oedipus the KingVol. 8
- p. 235–236The messenger announces Polybus's death.read · scan
Sophocles, AntigoneVol. 8
- p. 266–267Man finds no refuge from Hades though art may cure disease.read · scan
- p. 272–275Death breaks the marriage contract; even the boldest shrink when life's end nears; no mortal life is free of woe.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 685–686Old age, sickness and death are messengers warning every man that he too is mortal.read · scan
- p. 686–687Sickness and the swollen corpse are the second and third messengers reminding man he is subject to disease and death.read · scan
- p. 689Love of life grows with age; Death summons the groom on his wedding night and grants three warnings.read · scan
- p. 689Death claims the aged Dobson; lameness, blindness and deafness are the warnings he ignored.read · scan
- p. 733–734He must confirm his life will last seven days, since the trance cannot ward off death.read · scan
Ecclesiastes; or, The PreacherVol. 44
- p. 343–344No man has power to retain the spirit or the day of death.read · scan
Luke, The Gospel According to LukeVol. 44
- p. 387–388Life is more than possessions; the rich man's soul is required that night.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 205We are daily nearer to death.read · scan
- p. 242Many who came into the world with me are already gone.read · scan
- p. 293A father kissing his child should remember tomorrow it may die; no word expressing a work of nature is ill-omened.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 960–961No soul dies save by God's permission at an appointed time; believers longed for death yet halt before it.read · scan
- p. 975–976Death overtakes men even in lofty towers; this world's enjoyment is slight beside the next.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 93The youth dies instantly just after rejoicing at having escaped death.read · scan
- p. 115The humpback dies by accident, and the couple hastily conceal the body.read · scan
- p. 116The Jew fears he has killed a patient by stumbling and disposes of the corpse.read · scan
- p. 117A man is struck down and found dead; the steward fears for himself and disposes of the body.read · scan
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of ChristVol. 7
- p. 231Live always in expectation of death; death comes suddenly by many means and life passes like a shadow.read · scan
Sir Thomas Malory, The Holy GrailVol. 35
- p. 112–114Arthur foresees that many of the knights will die in the quest.read · scan
Ambroise Paré, Journeys in Diverse PlacesVol. 38
- p. 14A small wrestler is killed by a fall from a larger opponent's elbow.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, That to Philosophise Is to Learne How to DieVol. 32
- p. 12–13Numerous odd, sudden deaths of kings, philosophers, and his brother show death lurks everywhere and should be remembered.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 180–181Book cannot be finished while his life is not ended.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of Doctor FaustusVol. 19
- p. 205–206He concludes we must die an everlasting death.read · scan
- p. 239–240Faustus reflects he is a man condemned to die whose fatal time draws to its end.read · scan
Izaak Walton, The Life of Mr. George HerbertVol. 15
- p. 386Deaths of his powerful friends and the King end his court hopes.read · scan
Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Life Is a DreamVol. 26
- p. 69Fife's death: death finds one wherever hiding; a simple man's ignorance confounds so-called wisdom.read · scan
Sir Thomas Browne, Religio MediciVol. 3
- p. 295Death is always near, and we can die but once; no one can deprive us of death.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 319Death, due by sentence for transgression, is delayed by grace; Adam is struck with sorrow at the news.read · scan
Blaise Pascal, ThoughtsVol. 48
- p. 65–66People misjudge their health, thinking themselves dying when well; Cromwell dies from a tiny stone.read · scan
- p. 71Death threatens every moment and will place us within years under the necessity of annihilation or unhappiness.read · scan
- p. 88It is certain we shall not remain long in the world, and uncertain whether for an hour.read · scan
- p. 118A vapour or drop of water suffices to kill man, yet he knows he dies.read · scan
John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's ProgressVol. 15
- p. 247–248Valley's snares kill many heedless pilgrims; a slain man lies in the ditch; danger of death on the journey.read · scan
- p. 272Sickly, with Death knocking daily, he becomes a pilgrim and escapes the giant alive.read · scan
- p. 272–274Not-right is struck dead by thunderbolt while Feeble-mind is spared, prompting reflection on death and life.read · scan
Joseph Addison, The Vision of MirzaVol. 27
- p. 75People drop unexpectedly through the bridge in the midst of mirth, showing death's sudden arrival.read · scan
Alexander Pope, Solitude; On a Certain Lady at Court; Essay on ManVol. 40
- p. 407Natural disasters bring deaths, towns to one grave; pride wrongly expects nature to exempt man; the Indian hopes for an afterlife with his dog.read · scan
- p. 422Man alone knows his end, but the hour is concealed so that he hopes as he dreads.read · scan
George Sewell, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 481Death will end Damon's gardening; only rosemary will go with him to the grave.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 68–69Life is uncertain, so he urges Franklin not to delay the work.read · scan
William Cowper, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 533–535Death comes unexpectedly, without battle or storm; the poet muses that he too will soon lie low.read · scan
Friedrich Schiller, William TellVol. 26
- p. 428–429Hedwig envisions death pursuing the Alpine huntsman in many forms.read · scan
- p. 472–474The Brothers of Mercy sing that death strikes at life's full tide and all must face their Judge.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, CharacteristicsVol. 25
- p. 348Mournful account of Schlegel's death mid-sentence, and the infinite mystery of Life.read · scan
John Keats, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 897–898Poet fears he may cease to be before his work is done and love is lost.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 155Her sudden death at Avignon from pulmonary congestion frustrated their plans.read · scan
Edward FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám of NaishápúrVol. 41
- p. 943–945We do not know whether we shall breathe out the breath we breathe in; past kings gone.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 41–42Recent death revives beliefs that men are warned of death by dreams and unusual behavior.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Twenty-Four Years AfterVol. 23
- p. 389Tom Wrightington fell drunk from his horse and was found eaten by coyotes.read · scan
Coventry Patmore, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1112Sudden dying of a loved one leaves the survivor more at the wonder than the loss aghast.read · scan
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1157–1159The shroud rising higher each year marks approaching death.read · scan
2d.Death as a debt of nature and a process of change
See also: Change 1a
The Book of JobVol. 44
- p. 72Naked he came from the womb and naked shall return.read · scan
- p. 124–125If God withdrew his breath all flesh would perish and man return to dust.read · scan
The Book of PsalmsVol. 44
- p. 166Brought into the dust of death.read · scan
Buddhist WritingsVol. 45
- p. 636–637Buddha comforts Ananda: everything born and perishable must perish, and we must part from all dear to us.read · scan
Ecclesiastes; or, The PreacherVol. 44
- p. 337–338A time to be born and a time to die.read · scan
Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of EpictetusVol. 2
- p. 163–164What we love is mortal and lent to us for a time, like fruit in season.read · scan
- p. 164Death is a greater change from what is to what is not now; one is born when the world needs one.read · scan
- p. 179–180What is born must perish; man is a part of the whole like an hour of the day.read · scan
- p. 181Death is a return to friendly kindred elements, fire to fire, earth to earth.read · scan
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus AureliusVol. 2
- p. 211–212Bids one see oneself as a mortal; all things change and pass, the universe is transformation, life is opinion.read · scan
- p. 214You will be received back into the seminal principle by transmutation.read · scan
- p. 215Bodies of the dead and of eaten animals are dissolved to make room for others.read · scan
- p. 223Return breath to its element and fall on the earth from which father's seed, mother's blood and nurse's milk came.read · scan
- p. 270The earth will cover us all and everything changes forever; reflecting on transformation teaches one to despise perishable things.read · scan
- p. 279Everything is in dissolution and change, constituted by nature to die; live as a real man according to nature.read · scan
- p. 281What has once changed never exists again.read · scan
Saint Augustine, The Confessions of St. AugustineVol. 7
- p. 22Mortality is a chain and punishment of pride.read · scan
- p. 71Sickness at Rome brought him toward death, and all die in Adam.read · scan
Chapters from the KoranVol. 45
- p. 895–897God decreed death and can replace people with others.read · scan
- p. 898–899God kills and makes alive.read · scan
- p. 934–935Man is created from earth, clot and blood, grows to old age; some die earlier, all reach an appointed time.read · scan
- p. 935–936God alone quickens and kills; all shall be returned to Him.read · scan
Stories from the Thousand and One NightsVol. 16
- p. 198–200The dying Wezir says life's means and span are decreed and every soul must drink the cup of death.read · scan
- p. 424Death is called the terminator of delights and separator of companions.read · scan
- p. 441The family prospers until visited by death, the terminator of delights and separator of companions.read · scan
Michel de Montaigne, That to Philosophise Is to Learne How to DieVol. 32
- p. 22Death is unavoidable and the end of all; long or short life is equal in death, part of the world's order.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 329Death comes to demand his debt, and no nobility exempts anyone.read · scan
Christopher Marlowe, Edward the SecondVol. 46
- p. 66–68Baldock urges paying nature's debt cheerfully: all live to die and rise to fall.read · scan
William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of DenmarkVol. 46
- p. 100Queen says all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity; Hamlet accepts death is common.read · scan
Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Life Is a DreamVol. 26
- p. 21–23Birth as the antitype of death; the mother dies in giving life.read · scan
John Milton, Paradise LostVol. 4
- p. 227Man becomes a living soul; death is the penalty for disobedience.read · scan
- p. 292Death is deferred though man is told he is dust and shall return to dust.read · scan
- p. 304He wishes to return to earth as to a mother's lap and asks what dies but what had life and sin.read · scan
- p. 319Adam recalls they are dust and must return, uncertain how long life remains.read · scan
Henry Vaughan, Beyond the Veil; The RetreatVol. 40
- p. 348Wishes at death, when dust falls to the urn, to return to the state he came in.read · scan
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Tragedy of Faust, Part IVol. 19
- p. 27–29The spirit describes birth and the grave as a limitless ocean, weaving the life-garment of deity.read · scan
- p. 58–60Myriads swept away, yet fresh young blood ever circulates and germs burst forth everywhere.read · scan
William Wordsworth, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 620–628Michael dies leaving the sheepfold unfinished; Isabel follows three years later and the estate is sold.read · scan
Percy Bysshe Shelley, PoemsVol. 41
- p. 823–825Pan sings of love, death and birth; earth renewing itself like a snake sheds old skin.read · scan
- p. 832–833Poet spurns Death and Sleep, siblings of Night, preferring Night herself; autumn leaves and seeds like corpses awaiting spring.read · scan
- p. 860–861Spring renews nature and even corpses bloom into flowers; yet grief returns and death seems to quench the knowing mind.read · scan
Thomas Carlyle, CharacteristicsVol. 25
- p. 320–322Life's roots stretch to regions of Death and Night, which Nature conceals beneath the flowering stem.read · scan
George Long, The Philosophy of AntoninusVol. 2
- p. 334Death is one of the changes of all living things; if death is evil, all change is evil.read · scan
Victor Hugo, Preface to CromwellVol. 39
- p. 352–353Everything in nature is born, acts and dies, matching lyric, epic and drama; sunrise and sunset.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1251The falling pine's crash is the death-hymn of the perfect tree closing its century.read · scan
- p. 1252–1253Time enough to die when the forest fails; then the mother earth gives a pillow.read · scan
Hans Christian Andersen, TalesVol. 17
- p. 334Little Ida asks why her flowers have withered and died overnight.read · scan
- p. 340–341The flowers say they must die tomorrow but will wake again in summer; Ida buries them in a coffin.read · scan
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the BeagleVol. 29
- p. 214Fallen and decayed trees make death seem the predominant spirit of the forest.read · scan
- p. 500Compares mangroves to churchyard grass nourished by putrid exhalations, speaking of death past and death to come.read · scan
Edward FitzGerald, Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám of NaishápúrVol. 41
- p. 955–957The dead clay shapes speak of being returned to shapeless earth; the speaker wishes burial in a garden.read · scan
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 995–996Death is the end of life, and all things ripen toward the grave; the mariners ask for long rest or death.read · scan
Walt Whitman, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1404–1406All living and dying, the joyous and sorrowing, join the march.read · scan
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, PoemsVol. 42
- p. 1166–1168Every man's death grows from his birth like a shadow-plant; the king's a black yew.read · scan
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