Death and Bereavement Quotes
Top 35 Death and Bereavement
Quotes
No 1 (Best quote!)
Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; rage, rage against the
dying of the light.
(from Do not go gentle into that good night, 1952 poem).
- Dylan Thomas (1914-53), Welsh poet, pictured right,
No 2
Here lies a man who never lived, yet still from death was flying; who, if not sick, was never well; and died—for
fear of dying!
- James Thomson (1700–48), Scottish poet, pictured right.
Isabella in Shakespeare’s,
pictured right, Measure for
Measure agrees:
The sense of death is most in apprehension.
No 3
It seems to me most strange that men should fear; seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will
come,
(Julius Caesar in Julius
Caesar)
- William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, pictured right.
Epicurus (341–271 BC), the Greek philosopher,pictured right, says something similar:
Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and
when death is come, we are not,
No 4
The paths of glory lead but to the grave,
(from Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,a 1751 poem ).
- Thomas Gray (1716-71), pictured right, English poet.
Boethius (c.470-524) the Roman
philosopher, pictured right, puts it another way:
Death equalizes the high and the low.
No 5
Do not stand at my grave and weep: I am not there. I do not sleep,
(from Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep a 1932 poem)
- Mary Elizabeth Frye (1905-2004), pictured right, American poet.
Christina
Rossetti, pictured right, says something similar in her poem Remember
(1862):
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
No 6
The desire that every day might be my last, and the desire to make the most of every moment drives me on.
- Anita Roddick (1942-
2007), founder of the British cosmetics retailer, The Body Shop , pictured right.
Marcus Aurelius (121-180), the
Roman emperor and philosopher, pictured right, agrees:
Do every act of your life as if it were your last.
No 7
Death, where is thy sting ... Grave where is thy victory?,
(from The Pilgrim's
Progress)
- John Bunyan (1628-88), English writer, pictured right
No 8
Death cancels everything but truth; and strips a man of everything but genius and virtue. It is a sort of
natural canonization.
- William Hazlitt (1778–1830), English writer, pictured right.
No 9
There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
- George Santayana (1863–1952), Spanish-born American philosopher, pictured right.
No 10
It hath been often said, that it is not death, but dying, which is terrible.
(from the 1751 novel, Amelia)
- Henry Fielding (1707-54), pictured right, English writer.
No 11
As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.
- Leonardo da
Vinci (1452-1519) Italian painter, sculptor, architect and engineer, pictured right.
No12
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep
(from Stopping By the Woods On A Snowy Evening, a 1923 poem)
- Robert Frost (1874-1963), pictured right above, American poet.
No 13
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to
lose.
- Steve Jobs (1955- 2011), co-founder of
Apple, pictured right.
No 14
Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak whispers the o’er-fraught heart, and bids it break.
(Malcolm in Macbeth)
- William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, pictured right.
No 15
You matter because you are you, and you matter to the last moment of your life
- Cicely Saunders (1918-2005),
English founder of the modern hospice movement, pictured right.
No 16
I tried to commit suicide one day...I turned on the gas and left all the windows open.
- Elton John (1947- ), English pop star,
pictured right,
No 17
You can’t experience being alive without realizing that you have to die, she [Sophie] thought. But it’s just as
impossible to realize you have to die without thinking how incredibly amazing it is to be alive.
(from Sophie's World).
- Jostein Gaarder (1952-), Norwegian writer, pictured right
No 18
I intend to live forever, or die trying,
- Groucho Marx (1890-1977), American comedian and film and TV star, pictured
right.
No 19
But take comfort that I die at peace with the world and myself – not afraid,
- Robert Scott (1868-1912), English
Antarctic explorer, pictured right.
No 20
Farewell to thee! but not farewell
To all my fondest thoughts of thee:
Within my heart they still shall dwell;
And they shall cheer and comfort me.
O, beautiful, and full of grace!
(from a 1848 poem, Farewell)
- Anne Brontë (1820-49),
pictured right above, English writer.
No 21
The persons on whom I have bestowed my dearest love lie deep in their graves; but,
although the happiness and delight of my life lie buried there too, I have not made a coffin of my
heart.
(Mr. Brownlow in Oliver
Twist)
- Charles
Dickens (1812-70), English writer, pictured right
No 22
Death is nothing, but to live defeated and ingloriously, is to die every
day,
- Napoleon
Bonaparte (1769-1821) ,pictured right, French leader.
Two other great people agree:
The worst evil of all is to leave the ranks of the
living before one dies.
- Seneca (c.4 BC-65 AD), Roman philosopher, pictured
right.
Every man dies. Not every man really
lives.
- William Wallace (c.1272-1305), Scottish leader,pictured
right.
No 23
If a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to
live.
- Martin Luther
King (1929-68), pictured right, American civil rights leader.
No 24
Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and
taxes.
- Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), American
politician and philosopher, pictured right.
No 25
Let me die a young man's death.
(title of a 1967 poem)
- Roger McGough (1937- ), pictured right, English
poet
No 26
It’s the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing
more.
(Dumbledore in the 2005 novel Half-Blood Prince)
- J.K.
Rowling (1965- ), English writer, pictured right
No 27
Life was a funny thing that happened to me on the way to the grave.
- Quentin Crisp (1908-99), English writer.
No 28
Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but
once.
(Julius Caesar in Julius Caesar)
- William
Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, pictured right.
No 29
But there are times when suddenly you realize you’re nearer the end than the
beginning.
- Colonel Nicholson (in the film, The Bridge on the River Kwai, 1957, pictured
right).
No 30
It's not about dying - it's about living fully until you die.
- Sister Frances Dominica (1942- ), Scottish pioneer of the
hospice movement, pictured right,
No 31
We do best in life if we look at it with clear eyes, and I think that applies to coming up to death as well.
- Cicely
Saunders (1918-2005), English founder of the modern hospice
movement, pictured right.
No 32
I hope I die before I get
old.
(from The Who's 1965 song, My
Generation)
- Pete Townsend (1945- ), pop musician and member
of The Who (pictured right).
No 33
You think the dead we love ever truly leave us? You
think that we don't recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble?
(Dumbledore in the Prisoner of
Azkaban)
- J.K.
Rowling (1965- ), English writer, pictured right
No 34
The last stages of life should not be seen as defeat but rather as life's fulfilment.
- Cicely Saunders (1918-2005), English
founder of the modern hospice movement, pictured
right.
No 35
Live well and die happy.
(Joe in Great Expectations)
- Charles
Dickens (1812-70), English writer, pictured right
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