By Maxime Lagacé
Maxime is the founder of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.
After losing my girlfriend in 2004,
I made a list of the most inspiring death quotes I could find.
You’ll find here the top 119.
What’s my goal?
To bring you some relief and make you feel (hopefully) a little bit better.
You’ll find authors like Buddha, Thoreau, Rumi, Einstein, and lots more.
Hope you’ll like them.
Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it. Haruki Murakami
We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. Chuck Palahniuk
That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet. Emily Dickinson
It is not length of life, but depth of life. Ralph Waldo Emerson
To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. J.K. Rowling
People living deeply have no fear of death. Anaïs Nin
Live your life, do your work, then take your hat. Henry David Thoreau
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. Kahlil Gibran
A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live. Lao Tzu
No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away. Terry Pratchett
He who is not busy being born is busy dying. Bob Dylan
Tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Wherever he goes, you also go. He will not be alone. Jiddu Krishnamurti
Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows. Michael Landon
Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things. Arthur Schopenhauer
As soon as you’ll realize it was a gift, you’ll be free. Maxime Lagacé
Related
- 85 Sad Love Quotes To Bring Some Relief And Hope
- 109 Grief Quotes To Help You Deal With Sorrow And Loss
- 130 Hurt Quotes That Will Comfort You
The Best Death Quotes
As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death. Leonardo da Vinci
Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them. George Eliot
Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time… It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other. Leo Buscaglia
What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us. Helen Keller
I don’t want to die without any scars. Chuck Palahniuk
A normal human being does not want the Kingdom of Heaven: he wants life on earth to continue. George Orwell
They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time. Banksy
Man cannot possess anything as long as he fears death. But to him who does not fear it, everything belongs. Leo Tolstoy
You’ll drift apart, it’s true, but you’ll be out in the open, part of everything alive again. Philip Pullman
Death is a distant rumor to the young. Andrew A. Rooney
Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. Arthur Miller
Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation. Rumi
What would life be worth if there were no death? Who would enjoy the sun if it never rained? Who would yearn for the day if there were no night? Glenn Ringtved
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time. Samuel Johnson
Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. Unknown
Our minds are too small to comprehend something as huge as death. Let it go. Maxime Lagacé
Death commences too early – almost before you’re half-acquainted with life – you meet the other. Tennessee Williams
Do not fear death so much but rather the inadequate life. Bertolt Brecht
Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds. Buddha
The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? Edgar Allan Poe
Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do? Epicurus
Death never takes the wise man by surprise, he is always ready to go. Jean de La Fontaine
Part 2. Death Quotes That Are…
The Most Famous Death Quotes
Searching for a famous death quote? Check out those ones by Einstein, Emerson, Aurelius, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, etc.
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. Marcus Aurelius
Death is nothing, but to live defeated is to die every day. Napoleon Bonaparte
Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. William Shakespeare
No one really knows why they are alive until they know what they’d die for. Martin Luther King Jr
If you’re not ready to die for it, take the word “freedom” out of your vocabulary. Malcolm X
Death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent, it clears out the old to make way for the new. Steve Jobs
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. Mark Twain
The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there’s no risk of accident for someone who’s dead. Albert Einstein
I’m not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens. Woody Allen
You needn’t die happy when your time comes, but you must die satisfied, for you have lived your life from the beginning to the end. Stephen King
While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die. Leonardo da Vinci
If we lose love and self respect for each other, this is how we finally die. Maya Angelou
Death is nothing else but going home to God, the bond of love will be unbroken for all eternity. Mother Teresa
Death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities. George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones)
To die will be an awfully big adventure. Peter Pan
It is the secret of the world that all things subsist and do not die, but retire a little from sight and afterwards return again. Ralph Waldo Emerson
My mama always used to tell me: ‘If you can’t find somethin’ to live for, you best find somethin’ to die for’. Tupac Shakur
I’m the one that’s got to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to. Jimi Hendrix
Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see. Helen Keller (Remember Helen Keller was blind)
Short Death Quotes
One-liners, thoughts, sayings, and captions for your bio, social status, self-talk, motto, mantra, signs, posters, wallpapers, and backgrounds.
Life is hard. After all, it kills you. Katharine Hepburn
Death pays all debts. William Shakespeare
We are born from a quiet sleep, and we die to a calm awakening. Zhuangzi
For some moments in life there are no words. David Seltzer
I want to be all used up when I die. George Bernard Shaw
Death makes equal the high and low. John Heywood
The fear of death is the beginning of slavery. Robert Anton Wilson
Death takes no bribes. Benjamin Franklin
Death is the ultimate boundary of human matters. Horace
Though death be poor, it ends a mortal woe. William Shakespeare
Neither the sun, nor death can be looked at steadily. François de La Rochefoucauld
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die. Amelia Burr
Life has more meaning in the face of death. Robert Greene
The meaning of life is that it stops. Franz Kafka
The phoenix must burn to emerge. Janet Fitch
Take nothing for granted. Keep in mind that it can come at anytime. Even today. Maxime Lagacé
It’s better to burn out than to fade away. Neil Young
Every exit is an entry somewhere else. Tom Stoppard
I shall not die of a cold. I shall die of having lived. Willa Cather
The idea is to die young as late as possible. Ashley Montagu
It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live. Victor Hugo
Even trees do not die without a groan. Henry David Thoreau
Inspirational Death Sayings (Some Are Comforting)
The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude. Thornton Wilder
Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come. Rabindranath Tagore
If life must not be taken too seriously, then so neither must death. Samuel Butler
Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves. Rabindranath Tagore
By becoming deeply aware of our mortality, we intensify our experience of every aspect of life. Robert Greene
Death and pain are windows to great insight if you have the strength to look through them. James Pierce (Source)
I discovered to my joy, that it is life, not death, that has no limits. Gabriel García Márquez
Death? Be as proud as you want: bore me later, because Love is sovereign here. Life never ends. Joy comes in the morning. Glory hallelujah. And let it be so. Anne Lamott
Whether or not there’s an afterlife, screw it. Just live your life right here right now before it’s too late. Maxime Lagacé
Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough. William Saroyan
Related: 79 Positive Quotes To Uplift Yourself
Let children walk with Nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life. John Muir
I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life. Corazon Aquino
When we finally know we are dying, and all other sentient beings are dying with us, we start to have a burning, almost heartbreaking sense of the fragility and preciousness of each moment and each being, and from this can grow a deep, clear, limitless compassion for all beings. Sogyal Rinpoche
Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive – the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Miguel Angel Ruiz
Losing is discovering, which is living. Maxime Lagacé
There is only one god and his name is Death, and there is only one thing we say to Death: ‘Not today’. Syrio Forel (Games Of Thrones)
Do not fear death. Death is always at our side. When we show fear, it jumps at us faster than light. But, if we do not show fear, it casts its eye upon us gently and then guides us into infinity. Laughing Bull
Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace. Oscar Wilde
Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you’re alive, it isn’t. Richard Bach
Death ends a life, not a relationship. Mitch Albom
Related: 5 Powerful Ways To Deal With Death, Grief & Loss (YouTube video)
Wise Death Sayings
Death is beautiful when seen to be a law, and not an accident. Henry David Thoreau
Death: something like birth, a natural mystery, elements that split and recombine. Not an embarrassing thing. Not an offense to reason, or our nature. Marcus Aurelius
We owe respect to the living; to the dead we owe only truth. Voltaire
I could just remember how my father used to say that the reason for living was to get ready to stay dead a long time. William Faulkner
For life be, after all, only a waitin‘ for somethin’ else than what we’re doin’; and death be all that we can rightly depend on. Bram Stoker (Dracula)
Losing your life is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is to lose your reason for living. Jo Nesbø
Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is just a passing shadow of a cloud. Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
The harder the pain, the longer the path to recovery, the better the opportunity to learn. Maxime Lagacé
To the most trivial actions, attach the devotion and mindfulness of a hundred monks. To matters of life and death, attach a sense of humor. Zhuangzi
Die happily and look forward to taking up a new and better form. Like the sun, only when you set in the west can you rise in the east. Rumi
Life is for the living. Death is for the dead. Let life be like music. And death a note unsaid. Langston Hughes
It is the fate — the genetic and neural fate — of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death. Oliver Sacks
Man always thinks about the past before he dies, as if he were frantically searching for proof that he truly lived. Jet Black
It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it’s called Life. Terry Pratchett
Conclusion
Death comes to all, but great achievements build a monument which shall endure until the sun grows cold. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride! Hunter S. Thompson
Key Takeaways
- Death gives value to life.
- Death is hard, but part of life. Accept.
- The question is not “How long did you live?”. The question is “Did you give?”.
- We can’t forget someone so we don’t truly lose them.
- What’s the most important lesson when you lose someone?
- That you still have your life to live.
A few thoughts on death…
Back in 2004, I lost my girlfriend in a car accident.
I was shocked, devastated, and confused for many months.
I was 22 at the time and I never thought something like that could happen to me.
Before that, I was the confident guy, succeeding at most things I started.
Then, suddenly, my life was filled with darkness and my family and friends couldn’t recognize me.
I tried hard to get out of that hole but apparently, I wasn’t able.
That event changed me over the years and today I’m happy to say I accepted it 100%.
The best part?
I couldn’t say that at that time, but it’s probably the best thing that could happen to me. Truly.
It may seem narcissistic, but it transformed me into who I am today, more humble and more grounded.
That being said, I wish you one thing:
to spend quality time with people who are still in your life.
Deep Video About Death By Alan Watts
Further Readings
- Topic: Sadness
- 73 Sad Quotes To Bring Relief
- 100 Pain Quotes To Help You Stay Calm And Hopeful
- The Grieving Process: Coping with Death (4-minute YouTube video)
- 100 Loneliness Quotes To Comfort And Inspire You
- 110 Memories Quotes To Ponder, Reflect And Inspire
- 115 Regret Quotes To Help You Forget (And Move Forward)
Hope you found a few quotes that gave you some relief.
If you did, please share them with a friend who could benefit from them too.
Did you lose someone recently? Which quote did you relate to the most? Please let us know in the comment section below.
Table Of Contents
Part 1
Top 15 Images
Best Quotes
Part 2
Death Quotes That ARE
Famous
Short
Inspirational
Wise
Part 3
Conclusion