In a world where the concept of immortality captivates the human imagination, quotes from thinkers, poets, and visionaries serve as powerful reminders of what it truly means to live on beyond our physical existence. Whether through our deeds, words, or the memories we leave behind, the quest for immortality has inspired countless individuals throughout history. This curated collection of 43 quotes delves into the profound, sometimes paradoxical, perspectives on achieving immortality. Join us as we explore the timeless wisdom and enduring legacies of those who pondered life's most enduring question: how can we transcend the finite and achieve eternal life?
1. “Let me go: take back thy gift:Why should a man desire in any wayTo vary from the kindly race of men,Or pass beyond the goal of ordinanceWhere all should pause, as is most meet for all?...Why wilt thou ever scare me with thy tears,And make me tremble lest a saying learnt,In days far-off, on that dark earth, be true?‘The Gods themselves cannot recall their gifts.’- Tithonus” - Alfred Lord Tennyson
2. “He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. “One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.” - Antonio Porchia
4. “The day will comeWhen my body no longer existsBut in the lines of this poemI will never let you be aloneThe day will comeWhen my voice is no longer heardBut within the words of this poemI will continue to watch over youThe day will comeWhen my dreams are no longer knownBut in the spaces found in the letters of this poemI will never tired of looking for you” - Sapardi Djoko Damono
5. “Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.” - Mitch Albom
6. “The only true immortality lies in one's children.[Letter to his friend, Richard Heuberger]” - Johannes Brahms
7. “I envied these women I saw before me, their beauty still intact. Life has its revenge of life. Untimely death is the secret of eternal youth.” - Shan Sa
8. “Another glorious Sierra day in which one seems to be dissolved and absorbed and sent pulsing onward we know not where. Life seems neither long nor short, and we take no more heed to save time or make haste than do the trees and stars. This is true freedom, a good practical sort of immortality.” - John Muir
9. “Something tells me that immortality is monstrous.” - Floriano Martins
10. “A book is a product of a pact with the Devil that inverts the Faustian contract, he'd told Allie. Dr Faustus sacrificed eternity in return for two dozen years of power; the writer agrees to the ruination of his life, and gains (but only if he's lucky) maybe not eternity, but posterity, at least. Either way (this was Jumpy's point) it's the Devil who wins.” - Salman Rushdie
11. “One Day I Wrote Her Name Upon the StrandOne day I wrote her name upon the strand,But came the waves and washèd it away:Again I wrote it with a second hand,But came the tide and made my pains his prey.Vain man (said she) that dost in vain assayA mortal thing so to immortalise;For I myself shall like to this decay,And eke my name be wipèd out likewise.Not so (quod I); let baser things deviseTo die in dust, but you shall live by fame;My verse your virtues rare shall eternise,And in the heavens write your glorious name:Where, when as Death shall all the world subdue,Our love shall live, and later life renew.” - Edmund Spenser
12. “Immortality goes through dead before all.” - Sorin Cerin
13. “Immortality like this is about as useful as sunscreen on a submarine.” - Elizabeth Marx
14. “Who needs immortal strength when you've got weapons of mass destruction?” - J.A. Saare
15. “I've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that is the only way of insuring one's immortality.” - James Joyce
16. “Waking up was a daily cruelty, an affront, and she avoided it by not sleeping.” - Gregory Maguire
17. “Bones are patient. Bones never tire nor do they run away. When you come upon a man who has been dead many years, his bones will still be lying there, in place, content, patiently waiting, but his flesh will have gotten up and left him. Water is like flesh. Water will not stand still. It is always off to somewhere else; restless, talkative, and curious. Even water in a covered jar will disappear in time. Flesh is water. Stones are like bones. Satisfied. Patient. Dependable. Tell me, then, Alobar, in order to achieve immortality, should you emulate water or stone? Should you trust your flesh or your bones?” - Tom Robbins
18. “Dare to be different. Represent your maker well and you will forever abide in the beautiful embrace of his loving arms.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu
19. “The only way to find out if you're immortal is to make it to the end of time and look around to see if you're still alive. Until you've done that, all you know is that you haven't died yet.” - John Patrick Lowrie
20. “When writers die they become books, which is, after all, not too bad an incarnation."[As attributed by Alastair Reid in Neruda and Borges, The New Yorker, June 24, 1996; as well as in The Talk of the Town, The New Yorker, July 7, 1986]” - Jorge Luis Borges
21. “Why do you want to do this?" he asked curiously. "Why is this woman so important to you?"Saint-Germain blinked in surprise. "Have you ever loved anyone?" he asked."Yes," Tamnuz said cautiously, "I had a consort once, Inanna...""But did you love her? Truly love her?"The Green Man remained silent."Did she mean more to you than life itself?" Saint-Germain persisted."They do not love that do not show their love," Shakespeare murmured very softly.The French immortal stepped closer to the Elder. "I love my Jeanne," he said simply. "I must go to her.""Even though it will cost you everything?" Tamnuz persisted, as if the idea was incomprehensible."Yes. Without Joan, everything I have is worthless.""Even your immortality?""Especially my immortality." Gone were the banter and the jokes. This was a Saint-Germain whom neither Shakespeare nor Palamedes had ever seen before. "I love her," he said,” - Michael Scott
22. “Don't blow off another's candle for it won't make yours shine brighter.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu
23. “I keep saying that I had everything, but all I had was endless tomorrows.” - Colin Thompson
24. “I once met a traveler who told me he would live to see the end of time. He laid out all his vitamins before me and told me he slept seven hours every night, no more or less. All the life you want, he said. It's all within the palm of your hand now. He said he would outlast all the wars and all the diseases, long enough to remember everything, and long enough to forget everything. He'd be the last man still standing when the sun decides to collapse upon itself and history ends. He said he had found the safest place on earth, where he could stay until the gateway to the beyond opened before him. A thousand generations from today. I pictured him there, atop a remote and snowy mountain. The heavens opening and God congratulating him for his perseverance. Asking him to join Him and watch as the sun burns down to a dull orange cinder and everything around it breaks is orbit and goes tumbling tumbling away, everything that once seemed permanent pulled apart so effortlessly, like a ball of yarn. A life into divinity.But I knew it was a lie. I've always known it was a lie. You can not hide from the world. It will find you. It always does. And now it has found me. My split second of immortality is over. All that's left now is the end, which is all any of us ever has.” - Drew Magary
25. “Music is a form that tends to give shape to rules, social mores, social attitudes, feelings—it does this in a very beautiful, fluid way. To me the issue of form and formlessness is most strong in the theme of mortality versus a human wish for immortality of a sort. Take, for example, the definition of beauty in fashion. Remember what Alison says at the beginning? She says when she was young she didn’t know what beautiful was. She looked at this woman who everyone was saying was beautiful and she didn’t even know what they were talking about. I experienced that when I was a child. If I loved someone I thought they were really beautiful. And then eventually, I began to get it, the social concept of beauty. Not that I think beautiful is completely imaginary, but beauty is so wide ranging and fluid. Yet there’s a need to say: “This is what it is, and it’s not changing; we’re taking a picture of it to hold it still.” It’s like an impulse to put up a building meant to last forever. An urge to grab and hold something in place when nothing human can be grabbed and held in place. We come into these physical bodies . . . whatever we are takes this shape that is so particular and distinct—eyes, nose, mouth—and then it gradually begins to disintegrate. Eventually it’s going to dissolve completely. It’s a huge problem for people; we can understand it, but it breaks our hearts. And so we’re constantly trying to pin something down or leave a trace that will last forever. “And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita . . .” What other immortality will anyone share?” - Mary Gaitskill
26. “When God plans to bless a man, he takes this poor time-cursed creature into His hand and says., My son, I breath into you eternity and immortality.” - A.W. Tozer
27. “If I should die," said I to myself, "I have left no immortal work behind me - nothing to make my friends proud of my memory - but I have lov'd the principle of beauty in all things, and if I had had time I would have made myself remember'd.” - Dan Simmons
28. “This is the gift and the sorrow of the Athanate; to see your loves pass before you like the days of summer while your heart still beats. To keep your vigil in the shadows and rise again with every sun.” - Mark Henwick
29. “If it had only been for the immortality gene, humanity would have eventually managed to turn it back on. At one point in history, they would have embarked on a quest to become immortals, like the gods. But they couldn’t and the whole of humanity still can’t and won’t.” - Mario Stinger
30. “I was at a dinner party many years ago,sitting along from Tom Stoppard, who in those days smoked not just between courses,but between mouthfuls. An American woman watched in disbelief."And you so intelligent!""Excuse me?" said tom"Knowing those things are going to kill you" she said "and still you do it.""How differently I might behave" Tom said, "if immortality were an option” - Stephen Fry
31. “A letter always seemed to me like immortality because it is the mind alone without corporeal friend.” - Emily Dickinson
32. “I know exactly what I would do with immortality: I would read every book in the library.” - Mark Jason Dominus
33. “Options abound world over, Options to choose from and be the best.” - Agu Jaachynma N E
34. “In your emotions: exercise Joy over sadness.” - Agu Jaachynma N E
35. “I would live forever if I could, but not like this.” - Gary Young
36. “You have been called to a life of blessing, don`t descend to that of curses.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu
37. “Eschew evil and it`s machinations.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu
38. “Always contend for the good!” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu
39. “The giver is the blessed! The receiver stands still.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu
40. “Desire to impact lives! Change destinies and make dreams come true.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu
41. “You are created with a mandate! You have all you need to fulfill it.” - Jaachynma N.E. Agu
42. “All unrest is but the struggle of the soul to reassure herself of her inborn immortality.” - Amos Bronson Alcott
43. “I've got my own toilet." -- Grace Harper” - Christine Amsden
