The self-existent Lord pierced the senses to turn outward. Thus we look to the world outside and see not the Self within us. A sage withdrew his senses from the world of change and, seeking immortality, looked within and beheld the deathless self.
—The Upanishads Sacred Books of Hinduism
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
Immortality is what nature possesses without effort and without anybody’s assistance, and immortality is what the mortals must therefore try to achieve if they want to live up to the world into which they were born, to live up to the things which surround them and to whose company they are admitted for a short while.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist
Whatsoever that be within us that feels, thinks, desires, and animates, is something celestial, divine, and, consequently, imperishable.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
One man may earn immortality by the work of a few short years, while others earn it by the work of a long life.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
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
Without a belief in personal immortality religion is like an arch resting on one pillar, or like a bridge ending in an abyss.
—Max Muller (1823–1900) German-Born British Philologist, Orientalist
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
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
Those who hope for no other life are dead even for this.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt.
—Joseph Heller (1923–99) American Novelist
Higher than the question of our duration is the question of our deserving. Immortality will come to such as are fit for it, and he would be a great soul in future must be a great soul now.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Prepare thyself in the antechamber that thou mayest worthily enter the throne-room.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
To desire immortality is to desire the eternal perpetuation of a great mistake
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
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
Immortal mortals, mortal immortals, one living the others death and dying the others life.
—Heraclitus (535BCE–475BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
I do not believe in the immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern without any superhuman authority behind it.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
He who lays up no store of good deeds during the working days of life can never enjoy the eternal Sabbath.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
Man is immortal; therefore he must die endlessly. For life is a creative idea; it can only find itself in changing forms.
—Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) Bengali Poet, Polymath
The first requisite for immortality is death.
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
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
Immortality is the condition of a dead man who doesn’t believe he is dead
—H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) American Journalist, Literary Critic
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
Matter immortal? and shall spirit die?—
Above the nobler, shall less nobler rise?
Shall man alone, for whom all else revives,
no resurrection know? Shall man alone,
Imperial man! Be sown in barren ground,
Less privileg’d than grain, on which he feeds?
—Edward Young (1683–1765) English Poet
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
This world is an antechamber to the next.
—The Talmud Sacred Text of the Jewish Faith
The creator made us to be the image of his own eternity, and in the desire for immortality we feel we have sure proof of our capacity for it.
—Robert South (1634–1716) English Theologian, Preacher
The thought of being nothing after death is a burden insupportable to a virtuous man; we naturally aim at happiness, and cannot bear to have it confined to our present being.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
I feel my immortality o’ersweep all pains, all tears, all time, all fears, and like the eternal thunders of the deep, peal to my ears this truth—“Thou livest forever.”
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
A healthy nature needs no God or immortality
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist