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cbfd101 Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying. depression dying life John Green
063e142 No one can say that death found in me a willing comrade, or that I went easily. cassandra-clare clockwork-princess death dying i-can-t-even mortality omg-my-feels the-infernal-devices Cassandra Clare
4698d51 What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can't move, with no hope of rescue. Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your current circumstances seems more likely, consider how lucky you are that it won't be troubling you much longer. dying humor survival Douglas Adams
4f756a9 It's true, I am afraid of dying. I am afraid of the world moving forward without me, of my absence going unnoticed, or worse, being some natural force propelling life on. Is it selfish? Am I such a bad person for dreaming of a world that ends when I do? I don't mean the world ending with respect to me, but every set of eyes closing with mine. dying fear Jonathan Safran Foer
9e68659 What is called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying. death dying life living Albert Camus
6289488 But she wasn't around, and that's the thing when your parents die, you feel like instead of going in to every fight with backup, you are going into every fight alone. back-up death death-of-a-loved-one dying fight loss parents Mitch Albom
9c45c9d Haven't you learned anything, not even with the approach of death? Stop thinking all the time that you're in the way, that you're bothering the person next to you. If people don't like it, they can complain. And if they don't have the courage to complain, that's their problem dying living Paulo Coelho
29e7462 I thought about all of the things that everyone ever says to each other, and how everyone is going to die, whether it's in a millisecond, or days, or months, or 76.5 years, if you were just born. Everything that's born has to die, which means our lives are like skyscrapers. The smoke rises at different speeds, but they're all on fire, and we're all trapped. dying Jonathan Safran Foer
987a94d It always comes down to just two choices. Get busy living, or get busy dying. dying living Stephen King
79a2fcc Dying was nothing and he had no picture of it nor fear of it in his mind. But living was a field of grain blowing in the wind on the side of a hill. Living was a hawk in the sky. Living was an earthen jar of water in the dust of the threshing with the grain flailed out and the chaff blowing. Living was a horse between your legs and a carbine under one leg and a hill and a valley and a stream with trees along it and the far side of the valley and the hills beyond. dying ernest-hemingway for-whom-the-bell-tolls life living Ernest Hemingway
a35124d Right, well, he'd been sick for a while and his nurse said to him, 'You seem to be feeling better this morning,' and Isben looked at her and said, 'On the contrary,' and then he died. death dying green halter henrik-isben john last-words looking miles pudge John Green
8792d4f "Here's the thing about Hazel: Almost everyone is obsessed with leaving a mark upon the world. Bequeathing a legacy. Outlasting death. We all want to be remembered. I do, too. That's what bothers me most, is being another unremembered casualty in the ancient and inglorious war against disease. I want to leave a mark. But Van Houten: The marks humans leave are too often scars. You build a hideous minimall or start a coup or try to become a rock star and you think, "They'll remember me now," but (a) they don't remember you, and (b) all you leave behind are more scars. Your coup becomes a dictatorship. Your minimall becomes a lesion. ... We are like a bunch of dogs squirting on fire hydrants. We poison the groundwater with our toxic piss, marking everything MINE in a ridiculous attempt to survive our deaths. I can't stop pissing on fire hydrants. I know it's silly and useless--epically useless in my current state--but I am an animal like any other. Hazel is different. She walks lightly, old man. She walks lightly upon the earth. Hazel knows the truth: We're as likely to hurt the universe as we are to help it, and we're not likely to do either. People will say it's sad that she leaves a lesser scar, that fewer remember her, that she was loved deeply but not widely. But it's not sad, Van Houten. It's triumphant. It's heroic. Isn't that the real heroism? Like the doctors say: First, do no harm. The real heroes anyway aren't the people doing things; the real heroes are the people NOTICING things, paying attention. The guy who invented the smallpox vaccine didn't actually invent anything. He just noticed that people with cowpox didn't get smallpox. ... But then I wanted more time so we could fall in love. I got my wish, I suppose. I left my scar. ... What else? She is so beautiful. You don't get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than you: You know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers." beautiful choices death disease dogs dying eulogy fire-hydrant hurt legacy love making-a-difference scars survival John Green
dd88882 I breathe in. The water will wash my wounds clean. I breathe out. My mother submerged me in water when I was a baby, to give me to God. It has been a long time since I thought about God, but I think about him now. It is only natural. I am glad, suddenly, that I shot Eric in the foot instead of the head. dying religion Veronica Roth
187a569 Aren't you afraid of dying? Not really. I've watched lots of good-for-nothing, worthless people die, and if people like that can do it, then I should be able to handle it. dying handle people worthless Haruki Murakami
976577a "I don't think you're dying," I said. "I think you've just got a touch of cancer. He smiled. Gallows humor." dying John Green
4a3884f It's very simple. As you grow, you learn more. If you stayed at twenty-two, you'd always be as ignorant as you were at twenty-two. Aging is not just decay, you know. It's growth. It's more than the negative that you're going to die, it's also the positive that you understand you're going to die, and that you live a better life because of it. dying growth ignorance learning life Mitch Albom
7b37f1e "Oh God, Alaska, I love you. I love you," and the Colonel whispered, "I'm so sorry, Pudge. I know you did," and I said, "No. Not past tense." She wasn't even a person anymore, just flesh rotting, but I loved her present tense." dying John Green
ab63313 If we stay where we are, where we're stuck, where we're comfortable and safe, we die there. We become like mushrooms, living in the dark, with poop up to our chins. If you want to know only what you already know, you're dying. You're saying: Leave me alone; I don't mind this little rathole. It's warm and dry. Really, it's fine. When nothing new can get in, that's death. When oxygen can't find a way in, you die. But new is scary, and new can be disappointing, and confusing - we had this all figured out, and now we don't. New is life. dying life new safe scary stuck Anne Lamott
26ba7b1 You can't just make me different and then leave death driving drunk dying loss lost love John Green
8bc2ae9 The only dream worth having, I told her, is to dream that you will live while you're alive and die only when you're dead. carpe-diem dead death dream dying existing life life-and-death living reality truths Arundhati Roy
062f654 It is early, early morning. It's that time when it's still dark but you know the day is coming. Blue is bleeding through black. Stars are dying. bleeding blue dark day dying mornig stars time Markus Zusak
d94cd68 It might seem odd that in cities teetering at the edge of the abyss young people still go to class--in this case an evening class on corporate identity and product branding--but that is the way of things, with cities as with life, for one moment we are pottering about our errands as usual and the next we are dying, and our eternally impending ending does not put a stop to our transient beginnings and middles until the instant when it does. dying life normalcy ordinary-life Mohsin Hamid
2853a1c I wanted to kill someone and I wanted to die and I wanted to run as far and as fast as I could because she was never coming back. She had fallen off the face of the earth and she was never coming back. dying melissa-kantor zoe Melissa Kantor
22f88bf All who are born are always dying. dying living Mitch Albom
bef70d6 "Girls are always saying things like, "I'm so unhappy that I'm going to overdose on aspirin," but they'd be awfully surprised if they succeeded. They have no intention of dying. At the first sight of blood, they panic." death depression diary-entry dying journal panic rachel-klein sad-girl self-harm suicide teen-angst the-moth-diaries unhappy Rachel Klein
a6cf9c0 but as he plodded along a vague and almost hallucinatory pall hazed over his mind; he found himself at one point, with no notion of how it could be, a step from an almost certain fatal cliffside fall--falling humiliatingly and helplessly, he thought; on and on, with no one even to witness it. Here there existed no one to record his or anyone else's degradation, and any courage or pride which might manifest itself here at the end would go unmarked: the dead stones, the dust-stricken weeds dry and dying, perceived nothing, recollected nothing, about him or themselves. death degradation dying oblivion Philip K. Dick
d023031 Staring and staring into the mirror, it sees many faces within its face - the face of the child, the boy, the young man, the not-so-young man - all present still, preserved like fossils on superimposed layers, and, like fossils, dead. Their message to this live dying creature is: Look at us - we have died - what is there to be afraid of? It answers them: But that happened so gradually, so easily. I'm afraid of being rushed. dying face living mirror Christopher Isherwood
4816d17 ...nobody was ever really ready to turn off their mother's machine, no matter what they thought; to turn off the light of their childhood and walk away, just as if they were turning out a light and leaving a room. death death-of-a-loved-one dying Fannie Flagg
1ebf7a0 You've thrown down the gauntlet. You've brought my wrath down upon your house. Now, to prove that I exist I must kill you. As the child outlives the father, so must the character bury the author. If you are, in fact, my continuing author, then killing you will end my existence as well. Small loss. Such a life, as your puppet, is not worth living. But... If I destroy you and your dreck script, and I still exist... then my existence will be glorious, for I will become my own master. damned death dying heaven hell kill life living master murder puppet wrath Chuck Palahniuk
6fe89e0 In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern of the boat with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die. death dying morning rowboat Ernest Hemingway
b8523fa This is your war now.' I despised myself for the cheesy sentiment, but what else did I have? 'Some war,' he said dismissively. 'What am I at war with? My cancer. And what is my cancer? My cancer is me. The tumors are made of me. They're made of me as surely as my brain and my heart are made of me. It is a civil war, Hazel Graze, with a predetermined winner. dying tumor John Green
9b73acc It can't be that life is so senseless and horrible. But if it really has been so horrible and senseless, why must I die and die in agony? There is something wrong! dying life questions-in-life Leo Tolstoy
384e3f9 People are fragile. They die of mistakes, of overdoses, of sickness. But mostly they die of Death. death-and-dying dying Holly Black
636cc3b Worry is yet another side effect of dying. dying liked true-story John Green
cbd089e "Is it really worth dying for the person you love?" [Maureen] thinks about this for a moment. "That's not the real question, Oliver. What you be asking is, Can you live without her?" -- dying love maureen oliver values Jodi Picoult
7546c68 Peter Van Houten was the only person I'd ever come across who seemed to (a) understand what it's like to be dying, and (b) not have died. come dying houten like only person peter seem understand van John Green
0f546a2 Yeah.You got me through dying love Alyxandra Harvey
e363fe0 After sixty-one years together, she simply clutched my hand and exhaled. dying love Sara Gruen
0c304b6 The dust was antique spice, burnt maple leaves, a prickling blue that teemed and sifted to earth. Swarming its own shadows, the dust filtered over the tents. carnival dying october wicked Ray Bradbury
65c27e3 Supermarkets this large and clean and modern are a revelation to me. I spent my life in small steamy delicatessens with slanted display cabinets full of trays that hold soft wet lumpy matter in pale colours. High enough cabinets so you had to stand on tiptoes to give your order. Shouts, accents. In cities no one notices specific dying. Dying is a quality of the air. It's everywhere and nowhere. Men shout as they die to be noticed, remembered for a second or two. To die in an apartment instead of a house can depress the soul, I would imagine, for several lives to come. In a town there are houses, plants in bay windows. People notice dying better. The dead have faces, automobiles. If you don't know a name you know a street name, a dog's name. 'He drove an orange Mazda.' You know a couple of useless things about a person that become major facts of identification and cosmic placement when he dies suddenly, after a short illness, in his own bed, with a comforter and matching pillows, on a rainy Wednesday afternoon, feverish, a little congested in the sinuses and chest, thinking about his dry cleaning. death dying Don DeLillo
583114c I was learning that when you're with someone who is dying, you may need to celebrate the past, live the present, and mourn the future all at the same time. dying memories time Will Schwalbe
0e39f89 "But you're dead," said Harry. "Oh yes," said Dumbledore matter-of-factly. "Then...I'm dead too?" "Ah," said Dumbledore, smiling still more broadly. "That is the question, isn't it? On the whole, dear boy, I think not." They looked at each other, the old man still beaming. "Not?" repeated Harry. "Not," said Dumbledore. "But..." Harry raised his hand instinctively toward the lightning scar. It did not seem to be there. "But I should have died--I didn't defend myself! I meant to let him kill me!" "And that," said Dumbledore, "will, I think, have made all the difference." dying J.K. Rowling
ddb464b Dying's easy. It's living that's hard. dying easy hard life living zarek Sherrilyn Kenyon
bcf4289 "Rolling flat onto his back, Drake shuddered. Then he inhaled deeply. He stared up at the night sky. "We're going to win," he said, his voice calmer, less strained. "This is nothing. Keep going. They can't stop us. Jason, give Rachel the necklace. Tell her . . . tell her I'm sorry. Tell her . . . I wanted . . . to show her . . . my little valley. Tell her I tried." His voice was growing weak. Farfalee smoothed a hand over his brow. "Shhh," she whispered. "Be still, Drake. You can rest now. You did it. Rest. We'll take it from here." "Failie," he whispered, his hand twitching toward the back of his neck with little jerks. "Where's my seed?" His head tipped sideways. The breath went out of him." brandon chasing death drake dying mull prophecy Brandon Mull
de1c914 "You're innocent until proven guilty," Mandy exclaimed, unable to hide her gleeful smile. She missed the way people used to have normal conversations, used to be more caring for each other than themselves, back in the Seventies and Eighties. These days, she realized, neighbors kept to themselves, their kids kept to themselves, nobody talked to each other anymore. They went to work, went shopping and shut themselves up at home in front of glowing computer screens and cellphones... but maybe the nostalgic, better times in her life would stay buried, maybe the world would never be what it was. In the 21st century music was bad, movies were bad, society was failing and there were very few intelligent people left who missed the way things used to be... maybe though, Mandy could change things. Thinking back to the old home movies in her basement, she recalled what Alecto had told her. "We wanted more than anything else in the world to be normal, but we failed." The 1960's and 1970's were very strange times, but Mandy missed it all, she missed the days when Super-8 was the popular film type, when music had lyrics that made you think, when movies had powerful meanings instead of bad comedy and when people would just walk to a friend's house for the afternoon instead of texting in bed all day. She missed soda fountains and department stores and non-biodegradable plastic grocery bags, she wished cellphones, bad pop music and LED lights didn't exist... she hated how everything had a diagnosis or pill now, how people who didn't fit in with modern, lazy society were just prescribed medications without a second thought... she hated how old, reliable cars were replaced with cheap hybrid vehicles... she hated how everything could be done online, so that people could just ignore each other... the world was becoming much more convenient, but at the same time, less human, and her teenage life was considered nostalgic history now. Hanging her head low, avoiding the slightly confused stare of the cab driver through the rear view mirror, she started crying uncontrollably, her tears soaking the collar of her coat as the sun blared through the windows in a warm light." canada cape-breton cars convenient crazy crying death digital dying earth environment gone grief insane leaving-home lonely loss medications mental-illness misery moving nostalgia nova-scotia old-school reporter retro sad stop stuck taxi trapped Rebecca McNutt
a32e6fc What is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? die dying macabre melt melting naked nature poetic sun sunlight wind Kahlil Gibran
9cca028 In the same way, teenagers imagine dying young because death is more imaginable than the person that all the decisions and burdens of adulthood may make of you. beath burden childhood decision dying future imagination present suicide teenager young-adult youth Rebecca Solnit
89683d5 Then the voice - which identified itself as the prince of this world, the only being who really knows what happens on Earth - began to show him the people around him on the beach. The wonderful father who was busy packing things up and helping his children put on some warm clothes and who would love to have an affair with his secretary, but was terrified on his wife's response. His wife who would like to work and have her independence, but who was terrified of her husband's response. The children who behave themselves because they were terrified of being punished. The girl who was reading a book all on her own beneath the sunshade, pretending she didn't care, but inside was terrified of spending the rest of her life alone. The boy running around with a tennis racuqet , terrified of having to live up to his parents' expectations. The waiter serving tropical drinks to the rich customers and terrified that he could be sacket at any moment. The young girl who wanted to be a dance, but who was studying law instead because she was terrified of what the neighbours might say. The old man who didn't smoke or drink and said he felt much better for it, when in truth it was the terror of death what whispered in his ears like the wind. The married couple who ran by, splashing through the surf, with a smile on their face but with a terror in their hearts telling them that they would soon be old, boring and useless. The man with the suntan who swept up in his launch in front of everybody and waved and smiled, but was terrified because he could lose all his money from one moment to the next. The hotel owner, watching the whole idyllic scene from his office, trying to keep everyone happy and cheerful, urging his accountants to ever greater vigilance, and terrified because he knew that however honest he was government officials would still find mistakes in his accounts if they wanted to. There was terror in each and every one of the people on that beautiful beach and on that breathtakingly beautiful evening. Terror of being alone, terror of the darkness filling their imaginations with devils, terror of doing anything not in the manuals of good behaviour, terror of God's punishing any mistake, terror of trying and failing, terror of succeeding and having to live with the envy of other people, terror of loving and being rejected, terror of asking for a rise in salary, of accepting an invitation, of going somewhere new, of not being able to speak a foreign language, of not making the right impression, of growing old, of dying, of being pointed out because of one's defects, of not being pointed out because of one's merits, of not being noticed either for one's defects of one's merits. defects die dying merits terrified terrify terror Paulo Coelho
2be6c36 "What's the advantage of fear or the benefit of regret or the bonus of granting misery a foothold even if death is embracing you? My old abbot used to say, "Life is only precious if you wish it to be." I look at it like the last bite of a wonderful meal. Do you enjoy it, or does the knowledge that there is no more to follow make it so bitter that you would ruin the experience? - Myron on facing death" dying Michael J. Sullivan
579e334 "If it had been a heart attack, the newspaper might have used the word , as if a mountain range had opened inside her, but instead it used the word , a light coming on in an empty room. The telephone fell from my shoulder, a black parrot repeating a sunday, dusky. If it had been , we could have cradled her as she grew smaller, wiped her mouth, said good-bye. But it was , how overnight we could be orphaned dying Nick Flynn
bc4c204 "Come, my child," I said, trying to lead her away. "Wish good-bye to the poor hare, and come and look for blackberries." "Good-bye, poor hare!" Sylvie obediently repeated, looking over her shoulder at it as we turned away. And then, all in a moment, her self-command gave way. Pulling her hand out of mine, she ran back to where the dead hare was lying, and flung herself down at its side in such an agony of grief as I could hardly have believed possible in so young a child. "Oh, my darling, my darling!" she moaned, over and over again. "And God meant your life to be so beautiful!" children-s-literature death dying god grief hares rabbits Lewis Carroll
085e644 The worker picked up Pakhom's spade, dug a grave, and buried him - six feet from head to heel, exactly the amount of land a man needs. dying greed life life-and-death living poverty wealth Leo Tolstoy
795c792 She fed him scraps from her ragbag because words were all that were left now. Perhaps he could use them to pay the ferryman. The air rippled and shimmered. Time narrowed to a pinpoint. It was about to happen. beautiful death dying edward-thomas gerard-manley-hopkins john-keats kate-atkinson literary-allusions literary-quotes quotes william-blake william-shakespeare william-wordsworth Kate Atkinson
dccded0 "Where have you been?" I asked weakly. A few minutes ago I would have rather died than questioned him. Let him know I care. But I'm too sick to be strong, kick ass Rayne at the moment. "Vegas" he says. I raise an eyebrows. "Uh, okay. Win anything?" I can't believe he was off gambling as I lay dying. I mean, I know poker is hot and all, but couldn't he have waited a couple of days for that straight flush? "I got what I went for, if that's what you mean." "What, a lap dance?" He chuckes. "Even sick, you're still funny, Rayne." dying jareth rayne vegas Mari Mancusi
be2eb51 "Because there was only one thing worse than dying. And that was knowing you were going to die. And where. And how. ("Death Ship")" dying precognition Richard Matheson
862cfd9 They understand death, they stand there in the church under the skies that have a beginningless past and go into the never-ending future, waiting themselves for death, at the foot of the dead, in a holy temple. - I get a vision of myself and the two little boys hung up in a great endless universe with nothing overhead and nothing under bbut the Infinite Nothingness, the Enormousness of it, the dead without number in all directions of existence whether inward into the atom-worlds of your own body or outward to the universe which may only be one atom in an infinity of atom-worlds and each atom-world only a figure of speech - inward, outward, up and down, nothing but emptiness and divine majesty and silence for the two little boys and me. dying universe Jack Kerouac
8b345e8 "Here's the thing," he said. "People see me as a bridge. I'm not as alive as I used to be, but I'm not yet dead. I'm sort of...in-between" bridge dead dying in-between Mitch Albom
9e282b7 In the daylight we know what's gone is gone, but at night it's different. Nothing gets finished, not dying, not mourning; dream dreams dying grief mourning nightmare nightmares Margaret Atwood
36a4ea3 How ironic it would be, to die at his hands while trying to save him, when he first came to me because he was trying to save me. dying ella-shepard ironic saving Beth Revis
e79ac39 Think of the great poetry, the music and dance and ritual that spring forth from our aspiring to a life beyond death. Maybe these things are justification enough for our hopes and dreams, although I wouldn't say that to a dying man. arts dance death dream dreams dying hope hopes life-after-death music poetry posterity ritual Don DeLillo
3eb39f6 You take a very handsome guy, or a guy that thinks he's a real hot-shot, and they're always asking you to do them a big favor. Just because they're crazy about themself, they think you're crazy about them, too, and that you're just dying to do them a favor. It's sort of funny, in a way. dying favor funny handsome them themself think you-re J.D. Salinger
2e66850 I can't look people in the eye and tell them that they're going to die anymore. angel azrael dead death die dying empathy eye grim-reaper look morality pale-horseman sadness scythe sympathy tell Rebecca McNutt
0fd861d I think it's something like Mr. Peter Sloane and the octogenarians. The other evening Mrs. Sloane was reading a newspaper ans she said to Mr. Sloane 'I see here that another octogenarian has just died. What is an Octogenarian, Peter?' And Mr. Sloane said he didn't know, but they must be very sickly creatures, for you never heard tell of them but they were dying. dying funny octogenarian L. M. Montgomery
1e1dda3 Seven billion who need to be kept happy, and docile, until the end. How do you do that? What's the best way to calm down a scared kid, get them to go back to sleep? Tell them a story. Some shit about Jesus or whatever. delusion docile dying frightened funny happy jesus people population religion scared sleep story terrified terrifying truth Neal Stephenson
9c164d3 You never know, until it happens, what you will owe the dead. dying gesture Zadie Smith
0106a75 When the little mouse, which was loved as none other was in the mouse-world, got into a trap one night and with a shrill scream forfeited its life for the sight of the bacon, all the mice in the district, in their holes were overcome by trembling and shaking; with eyes blinking uncontrollably they gazed at each other one by one, while their tails scraped the ground busily and senselessly. Then they came out, hesitantly, pushing one another, all drawn towards the scene of death. There it lay, the dear little mouse, its neck caught in the deadly iron, the little pink legs drawn up, and now stiff the feeble body that would so well have deserved a scrap of bacon. The parents stood beside it and eyed their child's remains. dying kafka mice mouse Franz Kafka
cde4f06 I cannot pretend I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. dying last-words life Oliver Sacks
336bad4 Why are my sons followed thus by darkness?' ...'Because they were born in the house of flesh, therefore death follows at their heels. dying inevitability life living Ursula K. Le Guin
49bef17 "...Do you think there's somewhere else, some other place to go after this one?" Mandy blurted out. "You mean when you die, where will you end up?" Alecto asked her. "...I wouldn't know... back to whatever void there is, I suppose." "I've thought about it... every living thing dies alone, it'll be lonely after death," Mandy sighed sadly. "That freaks me out, does it scare you?" "I don't want to be alone," Alecto replied wearily. "We won't be, though. We'll be dead, so we'll just be darkness, not much else, just memories, nostalgia and darkness." "I don't want to be any of that either though," Mandy exclaimed, bursting into tears and crying, keeping her eyes to the floor, her voice shaky as she spoke to him. "When we die, we'll still be nothing, the world will still be nothing, everything'll just be nothing!" "You're real though, at least that's something," Alecto pointed out, holding his hand out in front of her. Smiling miserably, Mandy took his hand in her own and sat there beside him quietly." dead death depression disturbing dying frightened funeral grief grim heaven imagination kill lost misery nirvana nostalgia purgatory sadness scary spooky time truth void Rebecca McNutt
d5d5614 Death loves death, not life. Dying people love to know that others die with them; it is a comfort to learn you are not alone in the kiln, in the grave. death dying love Ray Bradbury
40cf051 From across the woods, as if by common accord, birds left their trees and darted upward. I joined them, flew amount them, they did not recognize me as something apart from them, and I was happy, so happy, because for the first time in years, and forevermore, I had not killed, and never would. death dying happiness George Saunders
5102d2d Or perhaps it is because it is so NECESSARY for you to win. It is like a drowning man catching at a straw. You yourself will agree that, unless he were drowning he would not mistake a straw for the trunk of a tree. dying win Fyodor Dostoyevsky
1c9d77f "Why'd you want to kill yourself? Didn't you feel anything, or didn't it hurt you?" Mandy questioned, looking puzzled. "Yes, I suppose it did, ... it was strange, it was sharp, that's all I can think of to describe it... and cold, but not cold like ice, more like... I don't know, like something much worse, something horrible... and it seemed like the ground was falling upwards, becoming the sky... for a moment it made me consider that it was just a dream, that I was on some sort of drug, and then I remember being overjoyed to see the sky was still above me, then just really sad, really tired... and then I don't remember much else about it," Alecto told her, glaring straight ahead at the sky with narrowed eyes. "I don't mind, I'm not supposed to mind, anyway. Mearth already told me that eventually I would want to be dead, that it was inevitable... still, I sometimes wish that I could have done something good for other people in my life, it might have made up for all the bad stuff I've done." canada confusion creepy dark death drugs dying dysfunctional friend friends friendship grief halloween help loss morbid nostalgia sadness self-harm self-mutilation spooky suicide swing-set Rebecca McNutt
5900aae "I've seen a lot of stuff... maybe I've seen too much. I see most humans in a bad light because I've seen what they can do, how evil they can be... I've seen the Holocaust and I've seen Jonestown, I've seen the Vietnam War and I've seen Hiroshima... I've seen the Chernobyl disaster... I've seen the World Trade Center attack... I've been alive too long, over a hundred years is a long time to be alive," Alecto sighed, staring at the cigarette he was holding." alive chernobyl death disaster dying earth evil grief hazardous hippie holocaust human jonestown kami lonely nature nuclear personification pollution sad smog steel vietnam-war Rebecca McNutt
a0fc83d Nobody really wants to be your friend when they discover that you work with dead people. career dead death dying friend friendship funeral lonely morbid mortician undertaker Rebecca McNutt
7fa1932 Putting your time in at the office; dutifully spawning your two point five; smiling politely at your retirement party; then chewing on your bedsheet and choking on your canned peaches at the nursing home. It was better never to have been born-never to have wanted anything, never to have hoped for anything. career duty dying hope hopelessness nursing-home office retirement spawning want Donna Tartt
63ba007 "But we who remain shall grow old We shall know the cold Of cheerless Winter and the rain of Autumn and the sting Of poverty, of love despised and of disgraces, And mirrors showing stained and aging faces, And the long ranges of comfortless years And the long gamut of human fears... But, for you, it shall forever be spring, And only you shall be forever fearless, And only you have white, straight, tireless limbs, And only you, where the water-lily swims Shall walk along the pathways thro' the willows Of your west. You who went West, and only you on silvery twilight pillows Shall take your rest death dying forever life sad war youth Ford Madox Ford (Ford Madox Hueffer )
b4a8680 He saw either death or the approach of it everywhere. But his undertaking now occupied him all the more. He had to live his life to the end, until death came. Darkness covered everything for him; but precisely because of this darkness he felt that his undertaking was the only guiding thread in this darkness, and he seized it and held on to it with all his remaining strength. death despair dying Leo Tolstoy
3699cf5 Sometimes the fog in his eyes would clear, that fog caused by the pain and the killers of pain, and when it cleared, I saw regret and fear in those eyes swimming with tears and I was convinced that this was it, this was the end, this was surely the end. dying illness Tony Parsons
222ebac "And he's alone there, with the unconscious pilot lying a little way off for company, and some other guy he's never even seen, only spoken to over the radio. He wants to sleep so badly - dying they call it - and he can't. Something's bothering him to keep him awake. ("Jane Brown's Body")" dying noir shot Cornell Woolrich
308dd47 It isn't dying I'm afraid of, it isn't that at all; I know what it is to die, I've died already. It is the endless obliteration, the knowledge that there will never be anything else. That's what I can't stand, to try so hard and to end in nothing. You know what I mean, don't you? ... I really loved to write. dying writer writers writing Cornell Woolrich
cd7f133 "A week passed, and Jean Valjean had not taken a step in his room. He still remained in bed. The portress said to her husband:-"The good man upstairs yonder does not get up, he no longer eats, he will not last long. That man has his sorrows, that he has. You won't get it out of my head that his daughter has made a bad marriage." The porter replied, with the tone of marital sovereignty: "If he's rich, let him have a doctor. If he is not rich, let him go without. If he has no doctor he will die." "And if he has one?" "He will die," said the porter." doom dying mortal Victor Hugo
b265f1f Dying is a very solitary thing. The only thing we can do it be there when she wants us there. died dying family grief mourn Lois Lowry
7b373f8 In a strange way, I envied the quality of Morrie's time even as I lamented its diminishing supply. Why did we bother with all the distractions we did? .. give up days and weeks of our lives, addicted to someone else's drama. drama dying envy ill life live others quality Mitch Albom
8641e47 You know, it's really very peculiar. To be mortal is the most basic human experience, and yet man has never been able to accept it, grasp it, and behave accordingly. Man doesn't know how to be mortal. And when he dies, he doesn't even know how to be dead. dying immortality life living mortality philosophy Milan Kundera
b8b2676 "Why did you revive me?" Alecto repeated. "Well... uh, well...." Mandy hesitated, her voice full of sudden misery. "They say there are five stages of grief, you know... five stages. denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Not in any particular order. Anyhow, I denied your death, I was angry about it, I bargained with Mearth to try and get her to un-bury your site and I was depressed about the whole ordeal. One thing I just froze up on though was acceptance. I just couldn't accept your death. It was really cruel the way you died, and I missed you so much... Mearth, my parents, the cops, Dr. Pottie, they all thought I was crazy. When people think you're crazy, that label automatically dehumanizes you, because people can use it to discredit everything you say with, "oh, pay no mind to her, she's just this crazy lunatic with a dead imaginary friend." I just wanted to do something, anything to make it all go away, and I decided that I wanted to revive you." anger bargaining crazy death death-of-a-loved-one dehumanization denial depression discredit dying friend friendship grief help imaginary-friend loss lunatic mourning revival sadness Rebecca McNutt
a7191c9 "I've got money!" Eve exclaimed in a frantic frenzy of hope, her eyes dancing wildly with the notion that there was some way out of this. "I mean, I don't know what use money is to the Grim Reaper, but I've got a ton of cash! It's in a hat box under my bed! I've got a bright red Lexus in the garage, I've got my engagement ring upstairs, it's real gold... there must be something we can trade off with..." "You can't bribe me away, I'm afraid," said Mr. Azrael. "Money means nothing where I come from." bribe car cash dead death die dying engagement engagement-ring frantic funny garage grim-reaper hat-box lexus money sad tragic under-the-bed weird Rebecca McNutt
f35e8d3 When the old men kill themselves, the cities are dying. dying kill old-men Robert Ludlum
3df8499 For all that was happening to him, his voice was strong and inviting, and his mind was vibrating with a million thoughts. He was intent on proving that the word 'dying' was not synonymous with 'useless'. alive dying life prove useless Mitch Albom
908e276 "Mitch, I don't allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each morning, a few tears, and that's all." I thought about all the people I knew who spent many of their waking hours feeling sorry for themselves. How useful it would be to put a daily limit on self-pity. Just a few minutes, then on with the day. And if Morrie could do it, with such a horrible disease . . ." -- dying few limit little self self-pity sorry tears useful Mitch Albom
b42e34b Alecto isn't a person! He's just something that society made and then threw away, a memory that refuses to die. canada cape-breton coal created death dying kodak-moment memory mining nostalgia nova-scotia person pollution society steel super-8 threw Rebecca McNutt
7103481 "If you were me you'd do the right thing, help your friends, because you're not a coward," Mandy sighed sadly. "I covered up a murder because I was scared to go to jail and I did the wrong thing... well, now's my chance to do the right thing, to save someone's life, because I don't want you to die." "Save someone's life? I'm no one," Alecto laughed morbidly. "A hundred and twelve years is definitely way too long to have survived. You'd be wasting your time and risking your own life...." "This is my life," Mandy declared, smiling sincerely. Alecto just looked concerned and very doubtful as the rain drizzled down the roads and sidewalks, towards the harbour where it fell into the ocean, indistinguishable from all the other water in the world." -- cape-breton coward crime death disturbance dying friend friendship grief help imaginary-friend jail loss misery moral-values morals murder nova-scotia ocean rescue right scary seaside suicide wrong Rebecca McNutt
5ac577c "With Pollution, emotion is irrelevant, it is not their nature," Mearth sighed, making a face as if she were talking to an ignorant small child. "I didn't create them, humans created the Pollution. Cheryl Nobel, Alecto Steele, Albert Sanders, Olivia Campbell, all my pretty little Representations, there aren't many of them left these days but they're still very dangerous! They're here to tell society all about its mistakes! You don't understand the world of Representations." canada cape-breton chemicals chernobyl coal death disturbing dying earth entity environment fear green grief hazardous hippie imaginary imagination loss love-canal mother-earth nature nova-scotia pollution recycle representation scared smog steel storm suicide sydney-tar-ponds tar tar-sands toxic-waste Rebecca McNutt
df47493 "When I came out into the outside room again, I saw her shoe still lying there, where it had come off in the course of our brief wrestle. It looked so pathetic there by itself without an owner, it looked so lonely, it looked so empty. Something made me pick it up arid take it in to her. Like when someone's going away, you help them on with their coat, or their jackboots, or whatever it is they need for going away. I didn't try to put it back on her, I just set it down there beside her close at hand. You're going to need this, I said to her in my mind. You're starting on a long walk. You're going to keep walking from now on, looking for your home. I stopped and wondered for a minute if that was what happened to all of us when we crossed over. Just keep walking, keep on walking, with no ahead and no in-back-of; tramps, vagrants in eternity. With our last hope and horizon - death - already taken away. after-death after-life afterlife death dying heaven limbo twentieth-century Cornell Woolrich
eb923db "Dzelat mi prilazi i kaze: "Spustite glavu na panj i rasirite ruke kad budete spremni, gospo." Poslusno spustam ruke na panj i nespretno kleknem na travu. Osecam njen miris pod kolenima. Osecam bol u ledima i cujem krik galebova i neciji plac. A onda odjednom, bas kad se spremim da spustim celo na hrapavu povrsinu panja i rasirim ruke da dam znak krvniku da moze da udari, odjednom me preplavljuje talas radosti i zudnje za zivotom, i kazem: "Ne." Prekasno je, dzelat je vec zamahnuo sekirom iznad glave, vez je spusta, ali ja kazem: "Ne" i ustajem, pridrzavajuci se za panj da se osovim na noge. Osetim strahovit udarac na potiljku, ali gotovo nikakav bol. Silina udarca obara me na zemlju i ja ponavljam "Ne", i odjednom me obuzima buntovnicki zanos. Ne pristajem na volju ludaka Henrija Tjudora, ne spustam krotko glavu na panj i nikada to necu uraditi. Boricu se za svoj zivot i vicem "Ne!", pokusavajuci da ustanem i "Ne", kad osetim novi udarac, "Ne" dok puzem po travi, a krv mi lipti iz rane na vratu i glavi i zaslepljuje me, ali ne gusi moju radost u borbi za zivot iako mi on izmice, i svedocenju, do poslednje g casa, o zlu koje Henri Tjudor nanosi meni i mojima. "Ne!", vicem. "Ne! Ne! Ne" death dying execution haunting henry-viii intriguing last-words margaret-pole philippa-gregory Philippa Gregory
5aa4dbd "Lew had never seen a dead man before. He just stood there, and looked and looked. Then he went a step closer, and looked some more. 'So that's what it's like!' he murmured inaudibly. Finally Lew reached out slowly and touched him on the face, and cringed as he met the clammy feel of it, pulled his hand back and whipped it down, as though to get something off it. The flesh was still warm and Lew knew suddenly he had no time alibi. He threw something over that face and that got rid of the awful feeling of being watched by something from the other world. After that Lew wasn't afraid to go near him; he just looked like a bundle of old clothes. The dead man was on his side, and Lew fiddled with the knife-hilt, trying to get it out. It was caught fast, so he let it alone after grabbing it with his fingers from a couple of different directions. dying Cornell Woolrich
ee52545 To be nothing - is that not, after all, the most satisfactory fact in the whole world?' asks a dog in a novel I read once (Virginia Woolf Flush 87). I wonder what the smell of nothing is. Smell of autopsy. death-of-a-loved-one dying Anne Carson
e3d2b95 The bottom line was that he didn't want to die. As far as he was concerned, death was the problem. The basic human problem. Everyone's problem. He wasn't any different from anyone else, but there was no consolation in that. dying existential-crisis David Guterson
f864a6b Death belongs only to God. What right have men to lay hands on a thing so unknown? dying god men Victor Hugo
6b9c2b8 Life is not the end, and death is just the beginning... dead death die dying grim-reaper heaven hell life Rebecca McNutt
31331dd Like weddings, funerals are about unity. Funerals are the unity of a person with the sweet hereafter, assuming that one believes in such a thing. death dying funeral graveyard living mortuary undertaker unity wedding Rebecca McNutt
3fff438 "Geraldine keeps her eyes trained on him as she slowly reaches into her purse, wrapping her fingers around her gun. "...Callo, I'm so sorry that your life ended up this way," she sighs as she gets out of her side of the car, her feet burning from the cold as her high heels sink into the fallen snow. "Aren't you scared?" "I'm you, Geraldine... I fell into the same trap as you, anyway," Callo answers. His large eyes are shining with tears, but he doesn't seem afraid in the least. "...The dead don't feel anything, you know... not even guilt or regret. So, what is there to be afraid of?" apology dead death depressed depression die dying emotion eyes fear forlorn forlornness friend friendship guilt gun high-heels kill lonliness mental-illness purse regret revolver tears trap usurer Rebecca McNutt
13021bc It must have been fifty seconds before Doc died. Long time. death dying William Goldman
13a3e3e I'm on the last great journey here--and people want me to tell them what to pack. dying journey-of-life Mitch Albom
4710dbd "He nodded toward the window with the sunshine streaming in. "You see that? You can go out there, outside, anytime. You can run up and down the block and go crazy. I can't do that. I can't go out. I can't run. I can't be out there without fear of getting sick. But you know what? I appreciate that window more than you do." dying illness Mitch Albom
a07d672 "It's only horrible if you see it that way," Morrie said. "It's horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But it's also wonderful because of all the time I get to say good-bye." He smiled. "Not everyone is so lucky." bye dying horrible ill lucky nothing slow time wilt Mitch Albom
f3f43a2 "Morrie closed his eyes. "I know, Mitch. You mustn't be afraid of my dying. I've had a good life, and we all know it's going to happen. I maybe have four or five months." dying good ill life live months Mitch Albom
9fcbed2 If some mystical clarity of thought came when you looked death in the eye, then I knew Morrie wanted to share it. And I wanted to remember it for as long as I could. death dying ill memory remember share thought time Mitch Albom
b4d8d37 "Ted," he said, "when all this started, I asked myself, 'Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?" I decided I'm going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure." dying end-of-life Mitch Albom
cbced9a I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on all the good things still in my life. On the people who are coming to see me. On the stories I'm going to hear. On you - if it's Tuesday. Because we're Tuesday people. cry dying good life need people self story tuesday Mitch Albom
c6ed6f9 But everyone knows someone who has died, I said. Why is it so hard to think about dying? 'Because,' Morrie continued, 'most of us walk around as if we're sleepwalking. We really don't experience the world fully, because we're half asleep, doing things we automatically think we have to do.' And facing death changes all that? 'Oh, yes. You strip away all that stuff and you focus on the essentials. When you realize you are going to die, you see everything much differently.' He sighed. 'Learn how to die, and you learn how to live. dying life-lessons Mitch Albom
66d6f11 I was astonished by his complete lack of self-pity. Morrie, who could no longer dance, swim, bathe, or walk; Morrie, who could no longer answer his own door, dry himself after a shower, or even roll over in bed. How could he be so accepting? I watched him struggle with a fork, picking at a piece of tomato, missing it the first two times - a pathetic scene, and yet I could not deny that sitting in his presence was almost magically serene, the same calm breeze that soothed me back in college. dying ill life live past pity presence struggle Mitch Albom
68dd477 But I can sit here with my dwindling days and look at what I think is important in life. I have both the time - and the reason - to do that. dying end ill important life reason think time Mitch Albom
4e1f13f A moment later the music began, and Kate shrank beneath the onslaught of its message: the fury of hope and joy that towered in the notes, outburning the sunlight and outpouring the volumes of the sea. All that was bold and noble and happy in created sound burst from the metempirical quills, and it was a blasphemy not to rejoice. Christian died in its midst, purposeful and successful; the last struggle unseen by anyone but Kate, and laying no bridle on the living. dying joy-of-life Dorothy Dunnett
d1ebae8 I googled 'suicide gene' but cancelled the search at the last second. I didn't want to know. Plus, I already knew. People ask: but how does this happen? To think that even with all the security measures we employ these days to keep things out - fences and motion detectors and cameras and sunscreen and vitamins and deadbolts and chains and bike helmets and spinning classes and guards and gates - we can have secret killers lurking inside us? That we can turn on our happy selves the way tumours invade healthy, wholesome organs, the way 'normal' moms suddenly throw their infants off the balcony is...who wants to think about that shit? dying suicide Miriam Toews
4c888e0 I may be dying, but I am surrounded by loving, caring souls. How many people can say that? death dying ill life live love Mitch Albom
4331ad9 I was facing him before the last word was out, but I should have been dead by then. In a way I did die, right there, all that time ago, and this is a ghost who has been telling you stories and drinking your wine. You don't understand. Never mind. dying ghosts lal lal-after-dark lal-alone lalkhamsin-khamsolal never-mind sailor-lal stories swordcane-lal telling-stories wine Peter S. Beagle
899eef4 "Tell yourselves whatever you'd like, but I'm afraid it doesn't make it true," Mearth sighed, beginning to look impatient. "Step aside Mandy, I have to remediate him, otherwise you'll find yourself in a whole mess of trouble." "You can't do this, it's wrong," Mandy insisted. "You don't have a choice, Mandy! Either you let his life compromise the lives of everybody else in the world, or you let me remediate him and get it over with," Mearth icily declared. "...Do what she says, Mandy Valems...." Alecto added, standing up and staring with glazed eyes at Mearth. "I can't," said Mandy. "...Go away!" Alecto shouted at her suddenly, glaring with narrowed eyes, speaking in a voice that hardly sounded like his own. "Get out of here, Mandy Valems! I hate you, I want you to leave me alone! Go home and don't ever come back here!" "I...." Mandy started, looking totally shocked. "I said I hate you, don't you understand anything? Go away, get out of here!" Alecto repeated menacingly, stepping forward in a threatening manner. He looked like a mad dog, shivering as he chased her away from his site. She tearfully took off running, seeming both shocked and horrified, and he watched her leave for a moment with a blank expression, his dark eyes hollow. He looked like he was going to black out, but Mearth walked quickly towards him, for once not smiling at all. If it weren't for her eyes, she would've looked like a person. "That was very cruel of you to do, Sydney Tar Ponds. I thought you loved her," she disappointedly exclaimed. "I do love her, she's my friend, and that's why I said that stuff to her," Alecto replied forlornly. "None of it's true, I don't hate her at all... but I know what's going to happen and I don't want her to see it, so I lied to her and told her I hated her... can you explain to her after... why I said all that to her?" death depression dog dying earth environment faith friendship grief help hope illness life loss love nova-scotia pollution rescue Rebecca McNutt
a690594 "Oh, trust me Sydney Tar Ponds, you aren't the first Personification to be forgotten by somebody ordinary," Mearth sighed with a falsely-reassuring smile. Alecto stepped back from her, glaring hatefully. "Sydney Tar Ponds," Mearth added, "I've had so many ordinary people as friends in my life that by now I've forgotten all their names. At first it was difficult... very sad... to see them always leaving, dying, disappearing, ignoring, but after a while I realized that they weren't worth the trouble. I'd rather be in the company of other Personifications. At least they aren't always dropping dead like houseflies or sailing away to parts unknown. Nil sa saol seo ach ceo, i ni bheimid beo, ach seal beag gearr. Wouldn't you agree?" "No," Alecto told her. "I think you're insane." death dying forget friend friendship housefly human insane irish loss memory mother-earth ordinary personification pollution sad Rebecca McNutt
fc302e6 ...I was so often silent angry with Hammett for making the situation hard on me, not knowing then that the dying do not, should not, be asked to think about anything but their own minute of running time. dashiell-hammett death dying illness sickness Lillian Hellman
561fa40 The Line welcomed rain and sun. Seeds germinated in mass graves, between skulls and femurs and broken pick handles, tendrils rose up alongside dog spikes and clavicles, thrust around teak sleepers and tibias, scapulas, vertebrae, fibulas and femurs. dying life war Richard Flanagan
977509a I've felt it for some time now, closing around me like the jaws of a gigantic flower. Isn't that a peculiar analogy? It feels that way, though. It has a certain vegetable inevitability. Think of the Venus flytrap. Think of kudzu choking a forest. It's a sort of juicy, green, thriving process. Toward, well, you know. The green silence. Isn't it funny that, even now, it's difficult to say the word 'death'? dying illness the-hours Michael Cunningham
454fc1d As for the absence of recovery, as for death, there are machines that are not meant for the road. dying illness weakness Edward P. Jones
75f14e2 Holding him like that moved me in a way I cannot describe, except to say I felt the seeds of death inside his shrivelling frame, and as I laid him in his chair, adjusting his head on the pillows, I had the coldest realisation that our time was running out. death dying hold ill move realise run-out time Mitch Albom
c8ab93f Sherrie described atheism as a positive system of belief--one based on data, exploration and observation rather than scripture, creed and prayer. Atheists believe that human life is a chemical phenomenon, that our first parents were super-novas that happened billions of years ago--that humans are inexplicable miracles in a universe of structured chaos. Atheists believe that when we die, we will turn into organic debris which will continue cycling for billions of years in various incarnations. Sherrie explained that atheists appreciate life unfathomably because it is going to end. No one who takes atheism seriously dies without hope. atheist caitlin-moran carl-sagan dying hope philosophy richard-dawkins science-and-religion science-vs-religion Israel Morrow
f427f53 Cand ne mor parintii, ne simtim intodeauna vulnerabili, pentru ca nu ne confruntam doar cu o pierdere, ci si cu propria moarte. Cand devenim orfani, intre noi si mormant nu mai sta nimeni. dying fear-of-dying parents Irvin D. Yalom
3dae757 Dead's not good, but at least it's simple. dying simple simplicity James S.A. Corey
b8450fd I wonder, for instance, if our laws reflect some deep aversion amongst medical professionals here towards the idea of relinquishing control of the dying process into the hands of the patient. I wonder if this aversion might stem from a more general belief in the medical profession that death represents a form of failure. And I wonder if this belief hasn't seeped out into the wider world in the form of an aversion to the subject of death per se, as if the stark facts of mortality can be banished from our consciousness altogether. dying medical-profession Miranda July
4b6dd12 Everyone dies. You needn't go on about it so. dying Gail Carson Levine
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