99 Life And Death Quotes

Life and death are two sides of the same coin, both profound elements that everyone experiences and contemplates at some point. The thoughts woven into these dualities often inspire deep reflection on existence, purpose, and the transient nature of our journey. In this post, we've gathered a selection of the top 99 life and death quotes that capture the essence of these timeless themes. Each quote, carefully chosen for its wisdom and emotional resonance, serves as a poignant reminder of the beauty and fragility of life and the inevitable reality of death. Whether you're seeking solace, insight, or simply a moment of quiet contemplation, these quotes offer a powerful glimpse into the human experience.

1. “Sex is kicking death in the ass while singing.” - Charles Bukowski

2. “Too weird to live, too rare to die!” - Hunter S. Thompson

3. “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.” - James Boswell

4. “The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered...We know that. And yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful.” - Elizabeth Edwards

5. “I assure you; while I look like a ghost, I'm no spirit or demon. I'm nothing but a girl struggling to make her way in an intolerant world. I bleed, I love, and someday, I'll die.” - Leanna Renee Hieber

6. “Do you shovel to survive, or survive to shovel?” - Kobo Abe

7. “Then he looked at Florentino Ariza, his invincible power, his intrepid love, and he was overwhelmed by the belated suspicion that it is life, more than death, that has no limits.” - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

8. “Only when you accept that one day you'll die can you let go, and make the best out of life. And that's the big secret. That's the miracle.” - Gabriel Bá

9. “Krishna was once asked what was the most miraculous thing in all creation, and he replied, "That a man should wake each morning and believe deep in his heart that he will live forever, even though he knows that he is doomed.” - Christopher Pike

10. “We trouble our life by thoughts about death, and our death by thoughts about life.” - Michel de Montaigne

11. “Sure, cried the tenant men, but it's our land. We measured it and broke it up. We were born on it, and we got killed on it, died on it. Even if it's no good, it's still ours. That's what makes it ours-being born on it, working it, dying on it.” - John Steinbeck

12. “Everything Dies. That is the law of life-the bitter unchangeable law” - David Clement-Davies

13. “Maybe we're standing like coins on the edge?"Allie considered this. "Meaning?""Meaning, we might be able to shake things up a little, and find a way to come up heads.""Or tails," suggested Allie."What are you talking about?" said Lief."Life and death.” - Neal Shusterman

14. “There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.” - George Santayana

15. “One life, One love, One breath, One people, One chance to make a difference. If we are not one in LIFE we surely will be one on DEATH.” - Tonny K. Brown

16. “Ali sada shvaćam da je umrijeti lako. Teško je živjeti.” - Gayle Forman

17. “Kaže da se svijet dijeli na ljude koji zamišljaju svoj sprovod i one koji ga ne zamišljaju, te da pametni i umjetnički nastrojeni ljudi spadaju u prvu kategoriju.” - Gayle Forman

18. “All things that have form eventually decay." -Orochimaru” - Masashi Kishimoto

19. “Because I can count on my fingers the number of sunsets I have left, and I don't want to miss any of them.” - Suzanne Collins

20. “Two Songs For The World's End I Bombs ripen on the leafless tree under which the children play. And there my darling all alone dances in the spying day. I gave her nerves to feel her pain, I put her mortal beauty on. I taught her love that hate might find, its black work the easier done. I sent her out alone to play; and I must watch, and I must hear, how underneath the leafless tree, the children dance and sing with Fear. II Lighted by the rage of time where the blind and dying weep, in my shadow take your sleep, though wakeful I. Sleep unhearing while I pray - Should the red tent of the sky fall to fold your time away, wake to weep before you die. Die believing all is true that love your maker said to you Still believe that had you lived you would have found love, world, sight, sound, sorrow, beauty - all true. Grieve for death your moment - grieve. The world, the lover you must take, is the murderer you will meet. But if you die before you wake never think death sweet.” - Judith Wright

21. “Yes; poor Bunbury is a dreadful invalid.Well, I must say, Algernon, that I think it is high time that Mr. Bunbury made up his mind whether he was going to live or to die. This shillyshallying with the question is absurd.” - Oscar Wilde

22. “Why do we always begin to think about people when they die? I think we should think about people while they're still alive! That way, they can know that we're thinking about them! I always tell people when I'm thinking about them, or that I thought about them, or that I have been thinking about them and it almost always scares them away, but so what, I am practicing the art of life and if that is frightening to them then maybe they need to start living while they're still alive!” - C. JoyBell C.

23. “No matter how many plans you make or how much in control you are, life is always winging it.” - Carroll Bryant

24. “You think that it’s not magic that keeps you alive? Just ‘cause you understand the mechanics of how something works, doesn’t make it any less of a miracle. Which is just another word for magic. We’re all kept alive by magic, Sookie. My magic’s just a little different from yours, that’s all.” - Charlaine Harris

25. “Thinking, Garraty thought. That’s the day’s business. Thinking. Thinking and isolation, because it doesn’t matter if you pass the time of day with someone or not; in the end, you’re alone.” - Stephen King

26. “Follow your heart, Ithilnin," Albirich repeated. "Time is precious. Don't waste it living someone else's life.” - Jess C. Scott

27. “If there is one thing I have learned, from loving Jessamine and even from the evil tasks you have made me do, it is that all forms of life are worthy of compassion.” - Maryrose Wood

28. “Why can’t you remember your Shakespeare and forget the third-raters. You’ll find what you’re trying to say in him- as you’ll find everything else worth saying. 'We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with sleep.''- 'Fine! That’s beautiful. But I wasn’t trying to say that. We are such stuff as manure is made on, so let’s drink up and forget it. That’s more my idea.” - Eugene O'Neill

29. “Personally I don’t endorse the notion of mortality. It’s fine for other folk, but I disapprove of the concept for me and my loved ones. Seems unfair that we’re not allowed to vote on the matter and not one of us is excused. Who made up that rule?" - Kinsey Millhone” - Sue Grafton

30. “Who would endure life if it were not for the hope of death?” - L.M. Montgomery

31. “For the very first time Andrew realized that life, real life, had no connection with the way people spent their days, whose lips they kissed, what medals were pinned on them, or the shoes they mended. Life, real life went on soundlessly...ultimately there was no difference between Queen Victoria and the most wretched beggar in London: both were complex machines made up of bone, organ, and tissue, whose fuel was the breath of God.” - Félix J. Palma

32. “Life may suck but death is worse.” - Alane Wilson

33. “If i were to lose a friend...then i couldn't die in peace!” - Sawada Tsunayoshi

34. “The true terror Jonah thought the true mystery of life was not that we are all going to die but that we were all born that we were all once little babies like this unknowing and slowly reeling in the world gathering it loop by loop like a ball of string. The true terror was that we once didn't exist and then through no fault of our own we had to.” - Dan Chaon

35. “I’ve never once thought about how I was going to die,” she said. “I can’t think about it. I don’t even know how I’m going to live.” - Haruki Murakami

36. “Between the dark, heavily laden treetops of the spreading chestnut trees could be seen the dark blue of the sky, full of stars, all solemn and golden, which extended their radiance unconcernedly into the distance. That was the nature of the stars. and the trees bore their buds and blossoms and scars for everyone to see, and whether it signified pleasure or pain, they accepted the strong will to live. flies that lived only for a day swarmed toward their death. every life had its radiance and beauty. i had insight into it all for a moment, understood it and found it good, and also found my life and sorrows good.” - Hermann Hesse

37. “If your life was complete, you'd be dead.” - Joshua Wisenbaker

38. “When you depart I'll blow you a Kiss take it to the Loved ones I already Miss.” - Stanley Victor Paskavich

39. “I've been to weddings and I've been to wakes in either setting Love takes no breaks.” - Stanley Victor Paskavich

40. “If you have a warm and caring heart, you're loved ones will ensure you never depart. For long after you've turned that final page you'll still be right there on center stage.” - Stanley Victor Paskavich

41. “I hope to die with dignity and not be on my death bed pondering the afterlife wearing a diaper named Depends.” - Stanley Victor Paskavich

42. “I've diagnosed myself and discovered I have a limited 'life span' you can do this to. Then live life to its fullest in everything you do!” - Stanley Victor Paskavich

43. “I'm sucking on a cancer stick trying to think of something inspiring to say to help someone have a better life. That's "Irony".” - Stanley Victor Paskavich

44. “A smile to someone could make the difference between them going home and axe murdering their family or having a nice meal!” - Stanley Victor Paskavich

45. “They say the brain never ages it’s a shame it can't teach the body that trick.” - Stanley Victor Paskavich

46. “As yet we know nothing of what goes to create or evoke the active spark of life.” - Bram Stoker

47. “The earth will always be the same - only cities and history will change, even nations will change, governments and governors will go, the things made by men's hands will go, buildings will always crumble - only the earth will remain the same, there will always be men on the earth in the morning, there will always be the things made by God's hands - and all this history of cities and congress now will go, all modern history is only a littering Babylon smoking under the sun, delaying the day when men again will have to return to earth, to the earth of life and God -” - Jack Kerouac

48. “When you're young your reality is accepted by most. When you're older, your reality changes and that seems to upset most people.” - Solange nicole

49. “Да, человек смертен, но это было бы еще полбеды. Плохо то, что он иногда внезапно смертен, вот в чем фокус! И вообще не может сказать, что он будет делать в сегодняшний вечер.” - Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков

50. “Life dies but forever will there be music. Always.” - Nicholas A. McGirr

51. “The path i walk lights up in flames” - R. Karim

52. “Yet, he thought, if I can die saying, "Life is so beautiful," then nothing else is important. If i can believe in myself that much, nothing else matters.” - Mario Puzo

53. “She promised him she would love him until she was physically unable to anymore and then after when all she could do was hold his photograph.” - Holly Hood

54. “I am Josephine Darly, and I intend to live forever.” - Tessa Gratton

55. “Everywhere we shine death and life burn into something new…” - Aberjhani

56. “Live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse.” - James Dean

57. “In The Land of Poetry and Fighting, Efficiency rules the throne. I try to live here, so I shave my head because hair is dead and dead is inefficient.” - Cameron Conaway

58. “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.” - Steve Jobs

59. “in that cold autistic dark.” - Cormac McCarthy

60. “In the grueling light that passed for day...” - Cormac McCarthy

61. “I ran across an excerpt today (in English translation) of some dialogue/narration from the modern popular writer, Paulo Coelho in his book: Aleph.(Note: bracketed text is mine.)... 'I spoke to three scholars,' [the character says 'at last.'] ...two of them said that, after death, the [sic (misprint, fault of the publisher)] just go to Paradise. The third one, though, told me to consult some verses from the Koran. [end quote]' ...I can see that he's excited. [narrator]' ...Now I have many positive things to say about Coelho: He is respectable, inspiring as a man, a truth-seeker, and an appealing writer; but one should hesitate to call him a 'literary' writer based on this quote. A 'literary' author knows that a character's excitement should be 'shown' in his or her dialogue and not in the narrator's commentary on it. Advice for Coelho: Remove the 'I can see that he's excited' sentence and show his excitement in the phrasing of his quote.(Now, in defense of Coelho, I am firmly of the opinion, having myself written plenty of prose that is flawed, that a novelist should be forgiven for slipping here and there.)Lastly, it appears that a belief in reincarnation is of great interest to Mr. Coelho ... Just think! He is a man who has achieved, (as Leonard Cohen would call it), 'a remote human possibility.' He has won lots of fame and tons of money. And yet, how his preoccupation with reincarnation—none other than an interest in being born again as somebody else—suggests that he is not happy!” - Roman Payne

62. “Things stayed peaceful in there, even as the crashing vehicles and the cries of the injured and dying reached a crescendo outside. "I fry mine in butter!" indeed.” - Kurt Vonnegut

63. “Life is beautifully tragic. Giving it up isn't the hard part; it's the living part that everyone struggles with.” - Allison Blanchard

64. “Death is the privilege of human natureAnd life without it were not worth our takingThither the poor, the unfortunate, and MournerFly for relief & lay their burdens down.” - Elizabeth Fama

65. “I closed my eyes. I used to think I was protecting the world, too. But it wasn't that simple. Nothing was. Who were we to decide that anyone or anything didn't deserve the spark of life they had been given?” - Kiersten White

66. “Sometimes evil wins, nah, child. But it’s always fleeting. Just a temporary ripple in a sea of goodness, brought on by the carnal nature of greed ’n corruption. Sacrifice washes that ripple out in waves of love ’n light, and peace is found when justice is served, even for those who lose, ya hear?” - Rachael Wade

67. “A little while and I will be gone from among you, whither I cannot tell. From nowhere we come, into nowhere we go. What is life? It is a flash of firefly in the night. It is a breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” - Chief Crowfoot

68. “O fim de uma viagem é apenas o começo de outra” - José Saramago

69. “It was then that I realized I wasn't afraid to lose my life; I was afraid to lose the life I could've lived.” - Amanda Nuri

70. “I thought at first that she was just dead. Just darkness...I thought about the slow process of becoming bone and then fossil and then coal that will, in millions of years, be mined by humans of the future, and how they would heat their homes with her and then she would be smoke billowing out of a smokestack, coating the atmosphere. I still that think that, sometimes, maybe "the afterlife" is just something we made up to ease the pain of loss, to make our time in the labyrinth bearable. But ultimately I do not believe that she was only matter...I believe now that we are greater than the sum of our parts. If you take her genetic code and you add her life experiences and the relationships she had with people, and then you take the size and shape of her body, you do not get her. There is something else there entirely. There is a part of her greater than the sum of her knowable parts. And that part has to go somewhere, because it cannot be destroyed...energy is never created and never destroyed. We cannot be born and cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations... Thomas Edison's last words were: It's very beautiful over there." I don't know where there is, but I believe it's somewhere, and I hope it's beautiful.” - John Green

71. “This was the first time I thought of S— that day. Her music was beautiful, her voice was beautiful, her body was beautiful. Even the dirty little pads of her feet were beautiful. I cursed myself then. For once, heaven had sent me Beauty in its most perfected form and I abandoned it. She might not have been a girl after all but an angel: a force to guide me on this hazardous path of life I hurry down. How can life be hazardous if it can only end in death?” - Roman Payne

72. “We definitely don't exist just for the sake of welcoming death someday; I believe we live for the sake of living on." —Kazuto Kirigaya "Kirito" (Sword Art Online)” - Reki Kawahara

73. “You are a speck. This whole life that seems so huge to us? asall of human enterprise even? Fuck us. We are so tiny," as he said "so tiny" he bent over until his forehead was nearly touching the tabletop, as if he was homing in on the speck that was them. "I can't stand to think we only add up to a blip. I need to think we're more than that." "Deal with it." he looked around as if someone had called his name.” - Carol Anshaw

74. “That's what it means to die, to not be able to stop looking at whatever's in front of you. Some darn thing placed directly there, with nothing you can do about it...” - Philip K. Dick

75. “When death tells a story yo really have to listen” - Markus Zusak

76. “He wore the memory of her embrace like armor, and though he knew it would not save his life, it would be all that was left to him to ease his passage into whatever lay beyond.” - Andrew Levkoff

77. “Certainly there is life and there is death, but even in death, if we look closely enough, we will find grace.” - Jeffrey R. Anderson

78. “Just when the question of how to live had become clearer to him, a new insoluble problem presented itself - Death.” - Leo Tolstoy

79. “If only certain things had been preventable, his life would have unfurled in front of him as intended, like a lush Oriental carpet. No surprises, no detours. Just a thick tapestry of days and nights that at the end of his time on earth, he could roll up and proudly claim as his own.” - Shilpa Agarwal

80. “Though his health and family had been broken in the process, he'd found his purpose in life — to share the ancient key discovered anew in the garden: if we feed the earth, it will feed us.I see that is the secret, too, to living. Though the earth demands its sacrifices, spring will always return” - Melissa Coleman

81. “If the inevitably of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that's what everyone else does.” - John Green

82. “That night in bed I was thinking about the way creeks and streams operate. They start off little, gurgling and bubbling and jumping over rocks and stuff, full of energy, going all over the place. Then they get older and bigger, become rivers, take a more definite course, stick to their path, know where they're going, get slower and wider. And eventually they reach the ocean and become part of this vast mysterious world of water that stretches away forever.Yep, just like people.” - John Marsden

83. “كن في الدنيا كأنك غريب أو عابر سبيل وعدّ نفسك من أصحاب القبور” - محمد عليه الصلاة والسلام

84. “What's so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling anything, and not even dreaming? What's so great about feeling and dreaming?” - Jonathan Safran Foer

85. “Take the matter of being born. What does being born mean to most people? Catastrophe unmitigated. Socialrevolution. The cultured aristocrat yanked out of his hyperexclusively ultravoluptuous superpalazzo,and dumped into an incredibly vulgar deterioncamp swarming with every conceivable species of undesirable organism. Mostpeople fancy a guaranteed birthproof safetysuit of nondestructible selflessness. If mostpeople were to be born twice they'd improbably call it dying.you and I are not snobs. We can never be born enough.” - E. E. Cummings

86. “All paths lead to death, our premature sacrifice for future spawn(from Elixir)” - Bryan Murphy

87. “We're always on breath away from something--living or dying--, sometimes it just can't be helped.” - Heather Gudenkauf

88. “We're always one breath away from something, living or dying, sometimes it just can't be helped.” - Heather Gudenkauf

89. “I just want to be enough for you, but I never can be. This can never be enough for you. But this is all you get. You get me, and your family, and this world. This is your life. I'm sorry if it sucks. But you're not going to be the first man on Mars and you're not going to be an NBA star, and you're not going to hunt Nazis.” - John Green

90. “Careful with your life.” - satree

91. “My chest tightens to the point I fear my heart will suffocate from the pressure of it. Society's standards are the total opposite from how I was raised. The boy who I thought to be so strikingly handsome has less than a year of his life to live, my new friend only a few more months beyond that. Yet they are living these uneventful lives in which they don't think there is a reason for anything. Will I ever see my mother again, or is this how I will be forced to live the rest of my life, as well?” - Jen Naumann

92. “Would words shatter the immensity of life and death so close to one another?” - Susan Abulhawa

93. “Death is only as strong as you believe it to be.” - Amy Neftzger

94. “wszystko jest stratą czasu, chyba że człowiek pieprzy się w najlepsze, tworzy w najlepsze, ma się jak najlepiej albo zmierza w kierunku ułudy pod tytułem miłość i szczęście. Wszyscy kończymy w gnojówce porażki - czy nazwiemy to śmiercią czy błędem.” - Charles Bukowski

95. “One of the best parts of being a Guardian is that we get a chance to grow and change. We get to exist in both worlds. We know the secret of life and have the knowledge of death” - Mackie Burt

96. “I was a puzzle. An enigma. I was nothing. And then I was again.” - Daniel Xiao Wang

97. “The world, as it is, is not a permanent reality, but is a temporary product of our choices as creators.” - Bryant McGill

98. “Ali život se nikome, razumete li me, nikome na ovom svetu ne duguje. Ni majci, ni deci, ni prijateljima, ni jedom idealu! Život je moje neprikosnoveno pravo! U šta i kako ću ga satreti, moja je lična stvar.” - Dobrica Ćosić

99. “I'll be around my whole life. That's a long time to me.” - Jodi Meadows