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Quotes

It is noble to die before doing anything that deserves death.

—Anaxandrides, c. 376

There is no man so fortunate that there shall not be by him when he is dying some who are pleased with what is going to happen.

—Marcus Aurelius, c. 175

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest.

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC

The play is the tragedy “Man,” And its hero the conqueror worm.

—Edgar Allan Poe, 1843

I don’t believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear.

—Woody Allen, 1971

Anyone who’s never watched somebody die is suffering from a pretty bad case of virginity.

—John Osborne, 1956

The life of the dead consists in the recollection cherished of them by the living.

—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 43 BC

I’m doomed to die, right? Why should I care if I go to Hades either with gout in my leg or a runner’s grace? Plenty of people will carry me there.

—Nicharchus, c. 90

Life is a farce, and should not end with a mourning scene.

—Horace Walpole, 1784

Epitaph, n. An inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.

—Ambrose Bierce, 1906

You are dust, and to dust you shall return.

—Book of Genesis, c. 800 BC

I order that my funeral ceremonies be extremely modest, and that they take place at dawn or at the evening Ave Maria, without song or music.

—Giuseppe Verdi, 1900

What is death? A scary mask. Take it off—see, it doesn’t bite.

—Epictetus, c. 110