The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Mortality
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin Poor Richard’s Almanack · 1732-1758

Quotes

“The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.”

Ernest Hemingway · For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940 · Primary source

“The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

Jack London · Jack London’s Tales of Adventure, 1906 · Secondary source

“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

Benjamin Franklin · Letter to French scientist Jean-Baptiste Leroy, 1789 · Primary source

“The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”

Ernest Hemingway · A Farewell to Arms, 1929 · Primary source

“Every day above earth is a good day.”

Ernest Hemingway · The Old Man and the Sea, 1952 · Primary source

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Steve Jobs · Stanford Commencement Address, 2005 · Primary source

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Steve Jobs · Stanford Commencement Address, 2005 · Primary source

“You only live twice:
Once when you’re born,
Once when you look death in the face.”

Ian Fleming · You Only Live Twice, 1964 · Primary source

“I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.”

Ian Fleming · You Only Live Twice, 1964 · Primary source

“For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“The most obvious way of reconciling oneself to death is to make sure of enjoying life before death snatches it from us. The catchwords Carpe diem and Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die are notorious, and Herodotus has preserved an Egyptian folktale in which the Pharaoh Mycerinus, when the gods had sentenced him to die after enjoying only six more years of life, successfully doubled the term arbitrarily allotted to him by turning night into day. This hedonistic solution of the problem of death is, of course, illusory.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · Man’s Concern with Death, 1968 · Primary source

“All would live long, but none would be old.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Lost time is never found again.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Up, sluggard, and waste not life; in the grave will be sleeping enough.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Wish not so much to live long as to live well.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“No catalogue of horrors ever kept men from war. Before the war you always think that it’s not you that dies. But you will die, brother, if you go to it long enough.”

Ernest Hemingway · Notes on the Next War, 1935 · Primary source

“If you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life. A good life is not measured by any biblical span.”

Ernest Hemingway · For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940 · Primary source

“Dying is only bad when it takes a long time and hurts so much that it humiliates you.”

Ernest Hemingway · For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940 · Primary source

“Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?”

Ernest Hemingway · The Old Man and the Sea, 1952 · Primary source

“But I am greedy for life. I do too much of everything all the time. Suddenly one day my heart will fail. The Iron Crab will get me as it got my father. But I am not afraid of The Crab. At least I shall have died from an honourable disease. Perhaps they will put on my tombstone. ‘This Man Died from Living Too Much’.”

Ian Fleming · From Russia, with Love, 1957 · Primary source

“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well used brings happy death.”

Leonardo da Vinci · The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, 1888 · Primary source

“Let us not weep for those who have gone away when their lives were at full bloom and beauty. Who are we that we should mourn them and wish them back? Life at its every stage is good, but who shall say whether those who die in the splendor of their prime are not fortunate to have known no abatement, no dulling of the flame by ash, no slow fading of life’s perfect flower.”

Helen Keller · We Bereaved, 1929 · Primary source

“No one comes back from the dead; no one has come into the world without weeping. No one asks when one wants to come in; no one asks when one wants to go out.”

Søren Kierkegaard · Either/Or, 1843 · Primary source

“There are, as is known, insects that die in the moment of fertilization. So it is with all joy: life’s highest, most splendid moment of enjoyment is accompanied by death.”

Søren Kierkegaard · Either/Or, 1843 · Primary source

Works

Ernest Hemingway · 1929
A Farewell to Arms

An American ambulance driver and a British nurse pursue a relationship amid the violence and upheaval of the First World War.

Read summary·Explore 8 quotes
Steve Jobs · 2005
Stanford Commencement Address

A personal reflection on education, work, failure, mortality and the importance of following one’s own path.

Read summary·Explore 6 quotes
Arnold J. Toynbee et al. · 1968
Man’s Concern with Death

An interdisciplinary examination of death and dying, with Toynbee tracing changing historical attitudes to mortality and their implications for human life.

Read summary·Explore 1 quotes

Related Tags

Hedonism 1 Carpe diem 1 Pleasure 5 Acceptance of death 1 Longevity 4 Ageing 5 Youth 4 Human desire 1 Quality of life 2 Fulfilment 4 Values 2 Time 20 Priorities 8 Use of time 3 Purpose 30 Legacy 2 Achievement 13 Authorship 1 Reputation 16 Irreversibility 1 Opportunity 14 Idleness 6 Industry 17 Meaning 4 Character 20 Death 2 Taxes 1 Certainty 4 Obligation 8 Resilience 28 Adversity 6 Courage 23 Endurance 7 Combat 1 Risk 27 War casualties 1 False sense of immunity 1 Sacrifice 10 Hope 12 Commitment 15 Love of life 1 Present moment 4 Acceptance 5 Contentment 7 Limited time 1 Pain 1 Dignity 5 Suffering 2 Fear of death 1 Old age 3 Daily life 3 Awareness of finitude 1 Gratitude 2 Perspective 18 Appreciation 3 Authenticity 8 Individual choice 1 Self-direction 7 Social pressure 6 Personal choice 2 Vitality 3 Excess 3 Rebirth 1 Haiku 1 Transformation 2 Action 21 Shared humanity 1 Common future 1 Peace 8 Human solidarity 2 Conduct 11 Bereavement 4 Consolation 2 Joy 3 Impermanence 1 Transience 1 Birth 1 Finitude 1 Human vulnerability 2 Lack of control 1 Intentional living 1 Dying 1 Attitudes towards death 1 Religion 3 Afterlife 1 First World War 8 Italian Front 1 Love and loss 1 Disillusionment 2 Stanford University 1 Career choices 1 Failure 11 Personal purpose 2