Deathlessness should be arrived at in a… haphazard fashion. Loving fame as much as any man, we shall carve our initials in the shell of a tortoise and turn him loose in a peat bog.
—E. B. White (1985–99) American Essayist, Humorist
When I consider the wonderful activity of the mind, so great a memory of what is past, and such a capacity of penetrating into the future; when I behold such a number of arts and sciences, and such a multitude of discoveries thence arising, I believe and am firmly persuaded that a nature which contains so many things within itself cannot but be immortal.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
The belief of a future state is a troublesome check on human passions, and one can never make libertines tranquil and resolute without having first made them unbelievers.
—Jean Baptiste Massillon (1663–1742) French Catholic Religious Leader, Theologian
Not all the subtleties of metaphysics can make me doubt a moment of the immortality of the soul, and of a beneficent providence. I feel it, I believe it, I desire it, I hope it, and will defend it to my last breath.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
Immortality: A toy which people cry for, And on their knees apply for, Dispute, contend and lie for, And if allowed Would be right proud Eternally to die for.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Human life is too short to recompense the cares which attend the most private condition: therefore it is, that our souls are made, as it were, too big for it; and extend themselves in the prospect of a longer existence, in good fame, and memory of worthy actions, after our decease.
—Richard Steele (1672–1729) Irish Writer, Politician
On the imagination God sometimes paints, by dream and symbol, the likeness of things to come.—What the foolish-wise call fanaticism, belongs to the same part of us as hope.—Each is the yearning of the soul for the great “Beyond,” which attests our immortality.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
The essence of immorality is the tendency to make an exception of myself.
—Jane Addams (1860–1935) American Social Reformer, Feminist
All men’s souls are immortal, but the souls of the righteous are both immortal and divine.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
To achieve great things we must live as though we were never going to die.
—Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–47) French Moralist, Essayist, Writer
The best argument I know for an immortal life is the existence of a man who deserves one.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Our dissatisfaction with any other solution is the blazing evidence of immortality.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
For the righteous there is no rest, neither in this world nor in the next, for they go, say the Scriptures, “from strength unto strength, from task to task, until they shall see God in Zion”.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
We feel and know that we are eternal.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
Life is the childhood of our immortality.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Faith in the hereafter is as necessary for the intellectual, as for the moral character; and to the man of letters, as well as the Christian, the present forms but the slightest portion of his existence.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
The old, old fashion—death! Oh, thank God, all who see it, for that older fashion yet—of immortality!
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
For the great hereafter I trust in the infinite love of God as expressed in the life and death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
—Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819–81) American Editor, Novelist
Still seems it strange, that thou shouldst live forever? Is it less strange, that thou shouldst live at all? This is a miracle; and that no more.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
Immortality is the condition of a dead man who doesn’t believe he is dead
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
One short sleep past, we wake eternally, and death shall be no more.
—John Donne (1572–1631) English Poet, Cleric
To desire immortality is to desire the eternal perpetuation of a great mistake
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
Nothing short of an eternity could enable men to imagine, think, and feel, and to express all they have imagined, thought and felt.—Immortality, which is the spiritual desire, is the intellectual necessity.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don’t want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
This world is like a road-side inn, but the world to come is like the real home.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
Immortality is not a gift, Immortality is an achievement; And only those who strive mightily Shall possess it.
—Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950) American Poet, Novelist
The first requisite for immortality is death.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
It is immortality, and that alone, which amid life’s pains, abasements, the soul can comfort, elevate, and fill.
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
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