Thought-provoking quotes to help you accept the inevitability of death.

Death Quotes That Will Help You Cope With Grief

Death is inevitable for every living being ever to have been born. However, being aware of this fact does not make it any easier for people to accept it. In fact, the fear of the finality of death is a serious matter that often jeopardizes the lives of many. While death is certain, the time of death is unknown for every individual; even though modern medical advances have increased the average life span of people by a great deal, untimely death by accident or deadly diseases is still very common. Whereas this uncertainly makes some question the very significance of life, for others, the fear of death is the greatest catalyst to help them live life to the full. The notion of death has troubled the greatest thinkers across history for millennia. Here we have collected some of their thought-provoking quotes to help you accept the inevitability of death.

To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.

To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
J. K. Rowling

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.

Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once.
William Shakespeare

Death is a fearful thing.
William Shakespeare

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

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 stroke of death is as a lover's pinch, which hurts and is desired.

The stroke of death is as a lover's pinch, which hurts and is desired.
William Shakespeare

I were better to be eaten to death with a rust than to be scoured to nothing with perpetual motion.

I were better to be eaten to death with a rust than to be scoured to nothing with perpetual motion.
William Shakespeare

It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.

It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.
J. K. Rowling

The valiant never taste of death but once.

The valiant never taste of death but once.
William Shakespeare

Life is for the living.
Death is for the dead.
Let life be like music.
And death a note unsaid.

Life is for the living. Death is for the dead. Let life be like music. And death a note unsaid.
Langston Hughes

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.
Mark Twain

And why not death rather than living torment? To die is to be banish'd from myself; And Silvia is myself: banish'd from her Is self from self: a deadly banishment!

And why not death rather than living torment? To die is to be banish'd from myself; And Silvia is myself: banish'd from her Is self from self: a deadly banishment!
William Shakespeare

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
J. K. Rowling

District 12: Where you can starve to death in safety.

District 12: Where you can starve to death in safety.
Suzanne Collins

Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.

Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.
Rumi

You only live twice:
Once when you are born
And once when you look death in the face

You only live twice: Once when you are born And once when you look death in the face
Ian Fleming

And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death.

And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death.
Charles Dickens

What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.

What you possess in the world will be found at the day of your death to belong to someone else. But what you are will be yours forever.
Henry Van Dyke

Sleep, those little slices of death — how I loathe them.

Sleep, those little slices of death — how I loathe them.
Edgar Allan Poe

You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.

You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.
J. K. Rowling

The true face of smoking is disease, death and horror - not the glamour and sophistication the pushers in the tobacco industry try to portray.

The true face of smoking is disease, death and horror - not the glamour and sophistication the pushers in the tobacco industry try to portray.
David Byrne

Drink today, and drown all sorrow;
You shall perhaps not do it tomorrow;
Best, while you have it, use your breath;
There is no drinking after death.

Drink today, and drown all sorrow; You shall perhaps not do it tomorrow; Best, while you have it, use your breath; There is no drinking after death.
Ben Jonson

Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.

Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.
Haruki Murakami

Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn't know a thing about life.

Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn't know a thing about life.
Sue Monk Kidd

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.

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

To die, to sleep -
To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub,
For in this sleep of death what dreams may come...

To die, to sleep - To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub, For in this sleep of death what dreams may come...
William Shakespeare

Sex is kicking death in the ass while singing.

Sex is kicking death in the ass while singing.
Charles Bukowski

Of emotions, of love, of breakup, of love and hate and death and dying, mama, apple pie, and the whole thing. It covers a lot of territory, country music does.

Of emotions, of love, of breakup, of love and hate and death and dying, mama, apple pie, and the whole thing. It covers a lot of territory, country music does.
Johnny Cash

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive. Never surrender.

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive. Never surrender.
Tupac Shakur

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
Isaac Asimov

I'm completely in favor of the
separation of Church and State.
... These two institutions screw us up enough
on their own, so both of them together is
certain death.

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. ... These two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
George Carlin

My father was a man of love. He always loved me to death. He worked hard in the fields, but my father never hit me. Never. I don't ever remember a really cross, unkind word from my father.

My father was a man of love. He always loved me to death. He worked hard in the fields, but my father never hit me. Never. I don't ever remember a really cross, unkind word from my father.
Johnny Cash

Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.

Fear not death for the sooner we die, the longer we shall be immortal.
Benjamin Franklin

I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an ass of yourself.

I may not agree with you, but I will defend to the death your right to make an ass of yourself.
Oscar Wilde

So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.

So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.
F. Scott Fitzgerald

You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.

You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.
C. S. Lewis

There's no way around grief and loss: you can dodge all you want, but sooner or later you just have to go into it, through it, and, hopefully, come out the other side. The world you find there will never be the same as the world you left.
Johnny Cash

The funny thing about facing imminent death is that it really snaps everything else into perspective.

The funny thing about facing imminent death is that it really snaps everything else into perspective.
James Patterson

War is not the only arena where peace is done to death.

War is not the only arena where peace is done to death.
Aung San Suu Kyi

All year there have been these cover stories that the women's movement is dead and about the death of feminism and the post-feminist generation of young women who don't identify with feminism - and then we have the biggest march ever of women in Washington. More people than had ever marched for anything - not only more women, but more people.
Betty Friedan

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.

Death is the sound of distant thunder at a picnic.
W. H. Auden

Though lovers be lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.

Though lovers be lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.
Dylan Thomas

To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal.

To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal.
Malcolm X

Nobody owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death.

Nobody owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death.
William S. Burroughs

The world reacts very strangely to people they see on TV, and I can begin to understand how anchor monsters are made. If you're not careful, you can become used to being treated as though you're special and begin to expect it. For a reporter, that's the kiss of death.
Anderson Cooper

Belief is the death of intelligence.
Robert Anton Wilson

The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.

The death of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.
Edgar Allan Poe

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.

It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
Marcus Aurelius

The Japanese had a very strong belief in Bushido, death before dishonour. They were fighting for their country; they were the aggressors in World War II.

The Japanese had a very strong belief in Bushido, death before dishonour. They were fighting for their country; they were the aggressors in World War II.
Steven Spielberg

Life's not a paragraph
And death i think is no parenthesis

Life's not a paragraph And death i think is no parenthesis
E. E. Cummings

It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.

It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.
Alexandre Dumas

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.
John Wayne

I carry death in my left pocket. Sometimes I take it out and talk to it:

I carry death in my left pocket. Sometimes I take it out and talk to it: "Hello, baby, how you doing? When you coming for me? I'll be ready.
Charles Bukowski

It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.

It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure to the world.
John Steinbeck

A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.

A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.
Joseph Stalin

I'm not afraid of death because I don't believe in it.
It's just getting out of one car, and into another.

I'm not afraid of death because I don't believe in it. It's just getting out of one car, and into another.
John Lennon

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

As a well spent day brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death.
Leonardo da Vinci

I don't think anybody's necessarily ready for death. You can only hope that when it approaches, you feel like you've said what you wanted to say. Nobody wants to go out in mid-sentence.

I don't think anybody's necessarily ready for death. You can only hope that when it approaches, you feel like you've said what you wanted to say. Nobody wants to go out in mid-sentence.
Johnny Depp

Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.

Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.
Ernest Hemingway

I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual

I meant to write about death, only life came breaking in as usual
Virginia Woolf

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.
Norman Cousins

We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.

We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
Charles Bukowski

There is no death, daughter. People die only when we forget them,' my mother explained shortly before she left me. 'If you can remember me, I will be with you always.

There is no death, daughter. People die only when we forget them,' my mother explained shortly before she left me. 'If you can remember me, I will be with you always.
Isabel Allende

I love songs about horses, railroads, land, Judgment Day, family, hard times, whiskey, courtship, marriage, adultery, separation, murder, war, prison, rambling, damnation, home, salvation, death, pride, humor, piety, rebellion, patriotism, larceny, determination, tragedy, rowdiness, heartbreak and love. And Mother. And God.
Johnny Cash

Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.

Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me – The Carriage held but just Ourselves – And Immortality.
Emily Dickinson

I do not see how a people that can find in its conscience any excuse whatever for slowly burning to death a human being, or for tolerating such an act, can be entrusted with the salvation of a race.

I do not see how a people that can find in its conscience any excuse whatever for slowly burning to death a human being, or for tolerating such an act, can be entrusted with the salvation of a race.
James Weldon Johnson

All societies on the verge of death are masculine. A society can survive with only one man; no society will survive a shortage of women.

All societies on the verge of death are masculine. A society can survive with only one man; no society will survive a shortage of women.
Germaine Greer

Faith, sir, we are here today, and gone tomorrow.

Faith, sir, we are here today, and gone tomorrow.
Aphra Behn

Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.

Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
Socrates

Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.

Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them.
Margaret Mitchell

I want someone who is fierce and will love me until death and knows that love is as strong as death, and be on my side forever and ever. I want someone who will destroy and be destroyed by me.

I want someone who is fierce and will love me until death and knows that love is as strong as death, and be on my side forever and ever. I want someone who will destroy and be destroyed by me.
Jeanette Winterson

My father's death was the most terrible thing that happened to me in my life.

My father's death was the most terrible thing that happened to me in my life.
Judy Garland

The Gross National Product includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads... It includes... the broadcasting of television programs which glorify violence to sell goods to our children.
Robert F. Kennedy

Death should take me while I am in the mood.

Death should take me while I am in the mood.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

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?

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

We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.

We all pay for life with death, so everything in between should be free.
Bill Hicks

The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.

The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.
Sun Tzu

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.

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.
Epicurus

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.

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

If you die you’re completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. I’m not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope I’ve got.

If you die you’re completely happy and your soul somewhere lives on. I’m not afraid of dying. Total peace after death, becoming someone else is the best hope I’ve got.
Kurt Cobain

There are ways of dying that don't end in funerals. Types of death you can't smell.

There are ways of dying that don't end in funerals. Types of death you can't smell.
Haruki Murakami

I wish to go on living even after my death.

I wish to go on living even after my death.
Anne Frank

Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.

Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.
Marcus Aurelius

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
Rabindranath Tagore

Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings where we had shoulders round as ravens claws.

Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings where we had shoulders round as ravens claws.
Jim Morrison

Yes, it's a well-known fact about you: you're like death, you take everything.

Yes, it's a well-known fact about you: you're like death, you take everything.
Milan Kundera

To forgive and be forgiven, if it's the last thing I do, then in death's release I may find the peace that in life I never knew.

To forgive and be forgiven, if it's the last thing I do, then in death's release I may find the peace that in life I never knew.
Elton John

The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.

The real question of life after death isn't whether or not it exists, but even if it does what problem this really solves.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

We'll all be equal under the grass, and God's got a heaven for country trash.

We'll all be equal under the grass, and God's got a heaven for country trash.
Johnny Cash

She laughed and danced with the thought of death in her heart.

She laughed and danced with the thought of death in her heart.
Hans Christian Andersen

If nothing saves us from death, at least love should save us from life

If nothing saves us from death, at least love should save us from life
Pablo Neruda

It is love, not reason, that is stronger than death.

It is love, not reason, that is stronger than death.
Thomas Mann

Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.

Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

While conservatism and self-protection might be likened to winter, night, and death, the spirit of pioneering and attempting to realize ideals evokes images of spring, morning, and birth.

While conservatism and self-protection might be likened to winter, night, and death, the spirit of pioneering and attempting to realize ideals evokes images of spring, morning, and birth.
Daisaku Ikeda

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.

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

Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.

Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.
Vladimir Nabokov

By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.

By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.
Irvine Welsh

The difference between sex and death is that with death you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you.

The difference between sex and death is that with death you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you.
Woody Allen

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.
John F Kennedy

The death of one is a tragedy, but death of a million is just a statistic.

The death of one is a tragedy, but death of a million is just a statistic.
Marilyn Manson

Death is not the worst that can happen to men.

Death is not the worst that can happen to men.
Plato

If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference', you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.

If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference', you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
Joseph Stalin

We're reaching for death
on the end of a candle
We're trying for something
that's already found us

We're reaching for death on the end of a candle We're trying for something that's already found us
Jim Morrison

Death Quotes That Will Help You Cope With Grief

Dreams

Ego

Experience

Family

Farewell

Fear