Death
Quotes - Do not stand at my grave and weep
“Because
children grow up, we think a child's purpose is to grow up. But a child's
purpose is to be a child. Nature doesn't disdain what lives only for a day. It
pours the whole of itself into the each moment. We don't value the lily less
for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in its flow,
later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung? The dance when it's
been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future, too. We persuade
ourselves that the universe is modestly employed in unfolding our destination.
We note the haphazard chaos of history by the day, by the hour, but there is
something wrong with the picture. Where is the unity, the meaning, of nature's
highest creation? Surely those millions of little streams of accident and
wilfulness have their correction in the vast underground river which, without a
doubt, is carrying us to the place where we're expected! But there is no such
place, that's why it's called utopia. The death of a child has no more meaning
than the death of armies, of nations. Was the child happy while he lived? That
is a proper question, the only question. If we can't arrange our own happiness,
it's a conceit beyond vulgarity to arrange the happiness of those who come
after us.”
―
Tom Stoppard, The Coast of Utopia
“Do
not stand at my grave and weep,
I am
not there, I do not sleep.
I am
in a thousand winds that blow,
I am
the softly falling snow.
I am
the gentle showers of rain,
I am
the fields of ripening grain.
I am
in the morning hush,
I am
in the graceful rush
Of
beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am
the starshine of the night.
I am
in the flowers that bloom,
I am
in a quiet room.
I am
in the birds that sing,
I am
in each lovely thing.
Do
not stand at my grave bereft
I am
not there. I have not left.”
―
Mary Elizabeth Frye
“No
man ever threw away life while it was worth keeping.”
―
David Hume, Essays on Suicide and the Immortality of the Soul
“...Despite
the mayhem that followed, Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel's hand
in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let go.”
―
John Boyne , The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“I
have noticed that even those who assert that everything is predestined and that
we can change nothing about it still look both ways before they cross the
street.”
―
Stephen Hawking, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays
“Everyone
grieves in different ways. For some, it could take longer or shorter. I do know
it never disappears. An ember still smolders inside me. Most days, I don’t
notice it, but, out of the blue, it’ll flare to life.”
―
Maria V. Snyder, Storm Glass
“It
is love, not reason, that is stronger than death.”
―
Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
“Will
having a newborn distract from the time we have together?" she asked.
"Don't you think saying goodbye to your child will make your death more
painful?"
"Wouldn't
it be great if it did?" I said. Lucy and I both felt that life wasn't
about avoiding suffering.”
―
Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air
“I
thought about all of the things that everyone ever says to each other, and how
everyone is going to die, whether it's in a millisecond, or days, or months, or
76.5 years, if you were just born. Everything that's born has to die, which
means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but
they're all on fire, and we're all trapped.”
―
Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
“In
the midst of life, we are in death.”
―
Agatha Christie, And Then There Were None
“The
whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's
infinite love. That's the message we're brought up with, isn't it? Believe or
die! Thank you, forgiving Lord, for all those options.”
―
Bill Hicks
“And
if one day,' she said, really crying now, 'you look back and you feel bad for
being so angry, if you feel bad for being so angry at me that you couldn't even
speak to me, then you have to know, Conor, you have to that is was okay. It was
okay. That I knew. I know, okay? I know everything you need to tell me without
you having to say it out loud.”
―
Patrick Ness, A Monster Calls
“Yes,
it's a well-known fact about you: you're like death, you take everything.”
―
Milan Kundera, Laughable Loves
“Dogs
do not have many advantages over people, but one of them is extremely
important: euthanasia is not forbidden by law in their case; animals have the
right to a merciful death.”
―
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
“The
end is in the beginning and yet you go on.”
―
Samuel Beckett, Endgame
“We
are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can
fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.”
―
Gayle Forman, Just One Day
“LADY
LAZARUS
I
have done it again.
One
year in every ten
I
manage it--
A
sort of walking miracle, my skin
Bright
as a Nazi lampshade,
My
right foot
A
paperweight,
My
face a featureless, fine
Jew
linen.
Peel
off the napkin
O my
enemy.
Do I
terrify?--
The
nose, the eye pits, the full set of teeth?
The
sour breath
Will
vanish in a day.
Soon,
soon the flesh
The
grave cave ate will be
At
home on me
And
I a smiling woman.
I am
only thirty.
And
like the cat I have nine times to die.
This
is Number Three.
What
a trash
To
annihilate each decade.
What
a million filaments.
The
peanut-crunching crowd
Shoves
in to see
Them
unwrap me hand and foot--
The
big strip tease.
Gentlemen,
ladies
These
are my hands
My
knees.
I
may be skin and bone,
Nevertheless,
I am the same, identical woman.
The
first time it happened I was ten.
It
was an accident.
The
second time I meant
To
last it out and not come back at all.
I
rocked shut
As a
seashell.
They
had to call and call
And
pick the worms off me like sticky pearls.
Dying
Is
an art, like everything else.
I do
it exceptionally well.
I do
it so it feels like hell.
I do
it so it feels real.
I
guess you could say I've a call.
It's
easy enough to do it in a cell.
It's
easy enough to do it and stay put.
It's
the theatrical
Comeback
in broad day
To
the same place, the same face, the same brute
Amused
shout:
'A
miracle!'
That
knocks me out.
There
is a charge
For
the eyeing of my scars, there is a charge
For
the hearing of my heart--
It
really goes.
And
there is a charge, a very large charge
For
a word or a touch
Or a
bit of blood
Or a
piece of my hair or my clothes.
So,
so, Herr Doktor.
So,
Herr Enemy.
I am
your opus,
I am
your valuable,
The
pure gold baby
That
melts to a shriek.
I
turn and burn.
Do
not think I underestimate your great concern.
Ash,
ash--
You
poke and stir.
Flesh,
bone, there is nothing there--
A
cake of soap,
A
wedding ring,
A
gold filling.
Herr
God, Herr Lucifer
Beware
Beware.
Out
of the ash
I
rise with my red hair
And
I eat men like air.
--
written 23-29 October 1962”
―
Sylvia Plath, Ariel
