Death Quotes in English with Images

Here’s a list of Famous Death Quotes with their meanings and examples that show how they apply to life:


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

  • Meaning: Death is a natural and inevitable part of existence; it’s not the end but a continuation of life's cycle.

  • Example: When someone reflects on the passing of a loved one, instead of seeing it as a tragic end, they may find peace in viewing death as a natural phase of life, like the changing of seasons.


2. "To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." – J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter)

  • Meaning: For those who are at peace with their lives and the choices they've made, death isn’t something to fear but a new journey to embrace.

  • Example: A terminally ill person who has made peace with their condition may spend their final days with loved ones, ready to accept death as a transition rather than a fearful event.


3. "Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them." – George Eliot

  • Meaning: The memory of those who have passed continues to live on in the hearts and minds of the living as long as they are remembered.

  • Example: A family gathers every year to celebrate the life of a deceased loved one, keeping their memory alive through stories and shared moments, ensuring they are never truly gone.


4. "Death is nature’s way of telling you to slow down." – Dick Sharples

  • Meaning: This humorous quote reflects how death is a reminder of life's finite nature and the importance of not rushing through it.

  • Example: Someone who has lived a fast-paced life might reflect on this quote after the sudden death of a friend, realizing they need to take time to appreciate the present rather than constantly striving for more.


5. "It is not length of life, but depth of life." – Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • Meaning: The quality of life is more important than how long one lives. A meaningful life filled with rich experiences is more valuable than a long, empty one.

  • Example: A person who lived only 40 years but traveled the world, helped others, and pursued their passions had a life full of meaning compared to someone who lived to 90 but never followed their dreams.


6. "Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life." – Bertolt Brecht

  • Meaning: The fear of an unfulfilled life is greater than the fear of death. It’s important to focus on living fully rather than worrying about the end.

  • Example: Someone might be anxious about death but finds peace in focusing on achieving their goals and building strong relationships, realizing that living fully makes death less frightening.


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

  • Meaning: If you embrace life fully, death loses its power over you. Living without fear or regret allows you to accept death calmly.

  • Example: An adventurer who has lived a life of exploration and fulfillment doesn't fear death, knowing they have embraced life and have no regrets about things left undone.


8. "The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." – Marcus Tullius Cicero

  • Meaning: Those who have passed away live on through the memories of those who remember them.

  • Example: A person's legacy is carried on through their children and the people they influenced, as their stories, teachings, and impact are remembered and honored long after they’re gone.


9. "Death ends a life, not a relationship." – Mitch Albom (Tuesdays with Morrie)

  • Meaning: The emotional and spiritual connections between people continue even after one of them passes away.

  • Example: A widow still feels connected to her deceased spouse by keeping their favorite traditions, visiting places they loved together, and feeling their presence in daily life.


10. "Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another." – Ernest Hemingway

  • Meaning: Death is a universal experience, but what makes people unique is how they live their lives and face death.

  • Example: Two people may both pass away in their old age, but one might be remembered for their courage in overcoming adversity, while another is remembered for their kindness and generosity. It’s how they lived, not how they died, that defines them.


11. "The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will." – Chuck Palahniuk

  • Meaning: Rather than fearing death, focus on creating a lasting impact or legacy that will live on after you.

  • Example: An artist who creates timeless works or a teacher who inspires generations of students may pass away, but the influence of their work or teachings continues to live on.


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

  • Meaning: Death is not an end but a transition, like the end of night when the new day begins. It signifies a new phase rather than total darkness.

  • Example: For people who believe in an afterlife or reincarnation, death represents a shift from one state of being to another, much like turning off a lamp when the sun rises.


These quotes reflect various perspectives on death, from its inevitability and naturalness to its ability to inspire living a meaningful life. Each example demonstrates how death can be a source of reflection, motivation, and even comfort, depending on how one views life and the relationships we build.

Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us, our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life.

- Albert Einstein

A man should not leave this earth with unfinished business. He should live each day as if it was pre-flight check. He should ask each morning, am I prepared to lift-off?

- Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider Quotes

Death is the enemy. I spent 10 years of my life singlemindedly studying, practicing, fighting hand to hand in close quarters to defeat the enemy, to send him back bloodied and humble and I am not going to roll over and surrender.

- Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider Quotes

I am going to concentrate on what's important in life. I'm going to strive everyday to be a kind and generous and loving person.  I'm going to keep death right here, so that anytime I even think about getting angry at you or anybody else, I'll see death and I'll remember.

- Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider Quotes

It's no accident that the church and the graveyard stand side by side.  The city of the dead sleeps encircled by the city of the living.

- Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider Quotes

I am not dying, not anymore than any of us are at any moment.  We run, hopefully as fast as we can, and then everyone must stop.  We can only choose how we handle the race.

- Hugh Elliott Quotes

As we look deeply within, we understand our perfect balance.  There is no fear of the cycle of birth, life and death.  For when you stand in the present moment, you are timeless.

- Rodney Yee Quotes

There was something awesome in the thought of the solitary mortal standing by the open window and summoning in from the gloom outside the spirits of the nether world.

- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Quotes

It is impossible that anything so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death, should ever have been designed by Providence as an evil to mankind.

- Jonathan Swift Quotes

For certain is death for the born
And certain is birth for the dead;
Therefore over the inevitable
Thou shouldst not grieve.

- Death Quotes by Bhagavad Gita

Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.

- Death Quotes by Bertolt Brecht

Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.

- Death Quotes by Bertolt Brecht Download or Share

Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.

- Death Quotes by A. Sachs

Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.

- Death Quotes by A. Sachs Download or Share

Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny.

- Death Quotes by Aeschylus

Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny.

- Death Quotes by Aeschylus Download or Share

When I pass, speak freely of my shortcomings and my flaws. Learn from them, for I'll have no ego to injure.

- Death Quotes by Aaron McGruder Download or Share

He not bust being born is busy dying.

- Death Quotes by Bob Dylan Download or Share

The killing was the best part. It was the dying I couldn't take.

- Craig Volk Quotes

I hope the leaving is joyful; and I hope never to return.

- Frida Kahlo Quotes

I'm afraid I'm being an awful nuisance.

- Edith Sitwell Quotes

If you live to be one hundred, you've got it made.  Very few people die past that age.

- George Burns Quotes

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.

-  George Santayana Quotes

Pale Death with impartial tread beats at the poor man's cottage door and at the palaces of kings.

- Horace Quotes

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

- Isaac Asimov Quotes

For three days after death hair and fingernails continue to grow but phone calls taper off.

- Johnny Carson Quotes

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

- Quotes by Joseph Stalin

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

- Leonardo da Vinci Quotes

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

- Mark Twain

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

- Leonardo da Vinci

The dead cannot cry out for justice; It is a duty of the living to do so for them.

- Lois McMaster Bujold Quotes

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

- Benjamin Franklin

Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

- Buddha

I'd rather get my brains blown out in the wild than wait in error at the slaughterhouse.

- Craig Volk Quotes

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 only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.

- Will Rogers

No one knows whether death, which people fear to be the greatest evil, may not be the greatestgood.

- Plato

Think not disdainfully of death, but look on it with favor; for even death is one of the things that nature wills.

- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Quotes

The report of my death was an exaggeration.

- Mark Twain Quotes

Never knock on Death's door: ring the bell and run away! Death really hates that!

- Matt Frewer Quotes

I suppose that I shall have to die beyond my means.

- Oscar Wilde Quotes

It's sad when our daddies die.  Makes us one less person inside.

- Pamela Ribon Quotes

Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?

- Plato Quotes

As men, we are all equal in the presence of Death.

- Publilius Syrus Quotes

The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.

- Pubilius Syrus Quotes

I guess that's how death works. It doesn't matter if we're ready or not.  It just happens.

- Randy K. Milholland Quotes

The fact that when we die we are nothing more than worm meat - I just don't think about it.

- Robin Green and Mitchell Quotes

If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive.

- Samuel Goldwyn Quotes

Death is not the worst; rather, in vain
To wish for death, and not to compass it.

- Sophocles Quotes

Dying is a very dull, dreary affair.  And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it.

- W. Somerset Maugham Quotes

Life isn't fair.  It's just fairer than death, that's all.

- William Goldman Quotes

Those who welcome death have only tried it from the ears up.

- Wilson Mizner Quotes

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work… I want to achieve it through not dying.

- Woody Allen Quotes

It is impossible to experience one's death objectively and still carry a tune.

- Woody Allen Quotes

On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down.

- Woody Allen Quotes

Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.

- Epicurus Quotes

There are worse things in life than death.  Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?

- Woody Allen Quotes

Be open to your dreams, people. Embrace that distant shore. Because our mortal journey is over all too soon.

- David Assael Quotes

Life does not cease to be funny when people die any  more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.

- George Bernard Shaw Quotes

We do not die because we have to die; we die because one day, and not so long ago, our consciousness was forced to deem it necessary.

- Death Quotes by Antonin Artaud