Quotes about Death
Wherefore all these last offices and ceremonies that concern the dead, the careful funeral arrangements, and the equipment of the tomb, and the pomp of obsequies, are rather the solace of the living than the comfort of the dead. If a costly burial does any good to a wicked man, a squalid burial, or none at all, may harm the godly.
- St. Augustine
That death is not to be judged an evil which is the end of a good life; for death becomes evil only by the retribution which follows it.
- St. Augustine
Thus the souls of departed saints are not affected by the death which dismisses them from their bodies, because their flesh rests in hope, no matter what indignities it receives after sensation is gone.
- St. Augustine
And yet there succeeded, not indeed other griefs, yet the causes of other griefs. For whence had that former grief so easily reached my very inmost soul, but that I had poured out my soul upon the dust, in loving one that must die, as if he would never die?
- St. Augustine
No man should put an end to this life to obtain that better life we look for after death, for those who die by their own hand have no better life after death.
- St. Augustine
But if the want of those things which are necessary for the support of the living, as food and clothing, though painful and trying, does not break down the fortitude and virtuous endurance of good men, nor eradicate piety from their souls, but rather renders it more fruitful, how much less can the absence of the funeral, and of the other customary attentions paid to the dead, render those wretched who are already reposing in the hidden abodes of the blessed!
- St. Augustine
Glory they most ardently loved: for it they wished to live, for it they did not hesitate to die. Every other desire was repressed by the strength of their passion for that one thing.
- St. Augustine
Death was originally proposed as an object of dread, that sin might not be committed; now it must be undergone that sin may not be committed, or, if committed, be remitted, and the award of righteousness bestowed on him whose victory has earned it.
- St. Augustine
And therefore perchance I feared to die, lest he whom I had much loved should die wholly.
- St. Augustine
Why, being dead, do you rely on yourself? You were able to die of your own accord; you cannot come back to life of your own accord. We were able to sin by ourselves, and we are still able to, nor shall we ever not be able to. Let our hope be in nothing but in God. Let us send up our sighs to him; as for ourselves, let us strive with our wills to earn merit by our prayers.
- St. Augustine
When I die, I will send down a shower of roses from the heavens,I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth.
- St. Therese of Lisieux
The truth of the matter is, you die, all you do is die, and yet you live, yes you live, and that's no Harvard lie.
- Jack Kerouac