Sayings about Death & Dying
You may never die before death arrives. ~ Indian Proverbs
You can’t escape death and guests. ~ Iranian Proverbs
Where life is exhausted, death comes. ~ Vietnamese Proverbs
When death is there, dying is over. ~ Russian Proverbs
When death comes, the rich man has no money and the poor man no debt. ~ Estonian Proverbs
When an old man marries, death laughs. ~ German Proverbs
What is sport to the cat is death to the mouse. ~ German Proverb
What is sport to the boy is the death of the bird. ~ Indian Proverb
We come and cry and that is life, we cry and go and that is death. ~ Traditional Proverb
We are all equal before death. ~ Maltese Proverbs
Too many doctors caused the boy’s death. ~ Myanmar Proverb
To wait for luck is the same as waiting for death. ~ Japanese Proverbs
To threaten the brave with death is like promising water to a duck. ~ Arabian Proverbs
To change one’s habits has a smell of death. ~ Portuguese Proverbs
Three things come into the house uninvited: debts, age, and death. ~ German Proverb
There is no repentance after death. ~ Russian Proverb
There is no remedy for death, but death itself is a remedy. ~ Spanish Proverbs
There is a remedy for everything except death. ~ French Proverbs
The talker talks and causes death in his family. ~ Haya Proverb
The one who pleased everybody died before they were born. ~ Traditional Proverb
The old man looks death in the eye, the young man keeps him behind his back. ~ Estonian Proverb
The happiest life ends before death. ~ Chinese Proverbs
The first breath is the beginning of death. ~ Traditional Proverb
The fear of death takes away the joy of living. ~ Ukrainian Proverbs
The death that will kill a man begins as an appetite. ~ Nigerian Proverbs
The crow was killed by the storm — “He died by my curse,” says the owl. ~ Indian Proverb
The child who died too soon was always beautiful and intelligent. ~ Japanese Proverb
The betrothed of good is evil; the betrothed of life is death; the betrothed of love is divorce. ~ Malawian Proverbs
Talk to a priest and die a thousand deaths. ~ Thai Proverb
Sleep is the cousin of death. ~ Congolese Proverbs
Shame is worse than death. ~ Russian Proverb
Poverty is death in another form. ~ Latin Proverbs
Poor or rich, death makes us all equal. ~ German Proverb
Only death itself can end our hope. ~ Arabian Proverb
Only death is certain. ~ Maltese Proverbs
One man’s death is another man’s life. ~ Maltese Proverb
One is certain only of death. ~ Yiddish Proverb
Old age is not a joy, but death is not a gain. ~ Russian Proverb
Nothing is certain but death and taxes. ~ Traditional Proverb
No cook ever died of starvation. ~ Ukrainian Proverbs
Never praise life in front of death, or the beautiful day in front of night. ~ Spanish Proverb
Make sure to send a lazy man the angel of death. ~ Jewish Proverbs
Love is sometimes difficult but death even more so. ~ Albanian Proverb
Living in worry invites death in a hurry. ~ American Proverbs
Live your own life, for you will die your own death. ~ Latin Proverb
Life without a friend is death without a witness. ~ Spanish Proverb
Life is a temporary stop, death is the journey home. ~ Vietnamese Proverb
Life is a dream walking, death is going home. ~ Chinese Proverb
Life is — not separate from death. ~ Native American Proverb
It’s astonishing how important a man becomes when he dies. ~ Yiddish Proverb
It is better to sit down than to stand, it is better to lie down than to sit, but death is the best of all. ~ Indian Proverb
In the face of love and death, courage is useless. ~ Spanish Proverb
If you wake up in the morning and feel no pain it is to be feared that you died in the night. ~ Czech Proverbs
If you start thinking of death, you are no longer sure of life. ~ Yiddish Proverb
If we knew where death resided, we would never stay there. ~ Ghanaian Proverbs
If the bathroom and a brandy cannot help a man, then death is imminent. ~ Finnish Proverbs
I have no right to rejoice at the death of my enemy when I do not have eternal life myself. ~ Iranian Proverbs
Hours are Time’s shafts, and one comes winged with death. ~ Scottish Proverb
He, who is afraid of death, loses his life. ~ Romanian Proverb
He waits long that waits for another man’s death. ~ Dutch Proverbs
He that parts with his property before his death prepares himself for much suffering. ~ French Proverb
He needs a long candle who awaits the death of another. ~ Finnish Proverbs
Habit is a shirt that we wear till death. ~ Russian Proverb
Gray hairs are death‘s blossoms. ~ English Proverbs
Good men must die, but death cannot kill their names. ~ Traditional Proverb
Fighting for your country glorifies death. ~ Russian Proverb
Fear of death is worse than death itself. ~ Traditional Proverb
Fear is no obstacle to death. ~ West African Proverb
Exile is the brother of death. ~ Berber Proverb
Every man goes down to his death bearing in his hands only that which he has given away. ~ Persian Proverb
Every door may be shut but death’s door. ~ Italian Proverbs
Even if Christ’s death could have been prevented, Judas would still be a traitor. ~ Ethiopian Proverbs
Death was afraid of him because he had the heart of a lion. ~ Saudi Arabian Proverb
Death rights everything. ~ Maltese Proverbs
Death rides a fast camel. ~ Saudi Arabian Proverb
Death makes us equal in the grave but not in eternity. ~ Portuguese Proverb
Death makes no appointment. ~ Kanuri Proverbs
Death keeps no calendar. ~ English Proverb
Death is the reaper who doesn’t take a midday nap. ~ Spanish Proverb
Death is the poor man’s best physician. ~ Traditional Proverb
Death is the last doctor. ~ Swedish Proverb
Death is the key that will open a miser’s coffers. ~ Sierra Leonean Proverbs
Death is the great leveler. ~ Traditional Proverb
Death is the bride of life. ~ Indonesian Proverb
Death is not found behind mountains but right behind our shoulders. ~ Russian Proverb
Death is God’s broom. ~ Swedish Proverb
Death is blind. ~ Swahili Proverb
Death is always news. ~ African Proverb
Death is a shadow that always follows the body. ~ English Proverb
Death is a giant against whom even the Tsars must draw weapons. ~ Russian Proverb
Death is a black camel that lies down at every door. Sooner or later you must ride the camel. ~ Saudi Arabian Proverb
Death has the key to open the miser’s chest. ~ Ghanaian Proverbs
Death has no modesty. ~ Zulu Proverbs
Death does not take the old but the ripe. ~ Russian Proverb
Death does not sound a trumpet. ~ Danish Proverb
Death does not look at your teeth. ~ Danish Proverb
Death does not come free of charge, for it costs us our life. ~ Russian Proverb
Death defies the doctor. ~ Traditional Proverb
Death carries on its shoulders a heavy Tsar just as easily as a light beggar. ~ Russian Proverb
Death answers before it is asked. ~ Russian Proverb
Death always comes too early or too late. ~ English Proverb
Close to the Tsar, close to death. ~ Russian Proverb
Birth is the only remedy against death. ~ Nigerien Proverb
Better a quiet death than a public misfortune. ~ Spanish Proverb
At death’s door a man will beg for the fever. ~ Armenian Proverbs
As a child, is a man wrapped in his mother’s womb; as an adult, in tradition; comes death, and he is wrapped in earth. ~ Malawian Proverb
An advantage of poverty, your relatives gain nothing by your death. ~ Hebrew Proverb
All the water in the sea doesn’t even reach the knees of the man who fears not death. ~ Indian Proverb
All the past died yesterday; the future is born today. ~ Chinese Proverb
After death the doctor. ~ Traditional Proverb
Advice after injury is like medicine after death. ~ Danish Proverb
Quotations about Death & Dying
The words of a dead man are modified in the guts of the living. ~ W. H. Auden
The best place a person can die, is where they die for others. ~ James M. Barrie
All say, “How hard it is that we have to die” – a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live. ~ Mark Twain
There’s a thing that keeps surprising you about stormy old friends after they die; their silence. ~ Ben Becht
Despise not death, but welcome it, for nature wills it like all else. ~ Marcus Aurelius
A good man dies when a boy goes wrong. ~ Author Unknown
We all labor against our own cure, for death is the cure of all diseases. ~ Sir Thomas Browne
To die will be an awfully big adventure. ~ J.M. Barrie
No one’s death comes to pass without making some impression, and those close to the deceased inherit part of the liberated soul and become richer in their humanness. ~ Hermann Broch
Death, in itself, is nothing; but we fear, To be we know not what, we know not where. ~ John Dryden
Most of us die with much of our beautiful music still in us, un-sung, un-played. ~ Grant M. Bright
Death is life’s way of telling you you’re fired. ~ Author Unknown
I really wanted to die at certain periods in my life. Death was like love, a romantic escape. I took pills because I didn’t want to throw myself off my balcony and know people would photograph me lying dead below. ~ Brigitte Bardot
Death always waits. The door of the hearse is never closed. ~ Joseph Bayly
God pours life into death and death into life without a drop being spilled. ~ Author Unknown
On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily as lying down. ~ Woody Allen
We all labour against our own cure, for death is the cure of all diseases. ~ John Dryden
Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant never taste of death but once. ~ William Shakespeare
There are more dead people than living. And their numbers are increasing. The living are getting rarer. ~ Eugene Ionesco
We fear not death. That gloomy night, that pale-faced moon, and the affrighted stars that hurried through the sky, can witness that we fear not death. ~ Author Unknown
Loss and possession, Death and life are one. There falls no shadow where There shines no sun. ~ Hilaire Belloc
Death is a release from the impressions of the senses, and from desires that make us their puppets, and from the vagaries of the mind, and from the hard service of the flesh. ~ Marcus Aurelius
Death is as sure for that which is born as birth is for that which is dead. Therefore grieve not for what is inevitable. ~ Bhagavad Gita
For ‘Tis not in mere death that men die most. ~ Elizabeth Barrett Browning
I do not believe that any man fears to be dead, but only the stroke of death. ~ Francis Bacon
You only live twice. Once when you are born and once when you look death in the face. ~ Ian Fleming
A dying man needs to die, as a sleepy man needs to sleep, and there comes a time when it is wrong, as well as useless, to resist. ~ Steward Alsop
I’m not afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens. ~ Woody Allen
See in what peace a Christian can die. ~ Joseph Addison
Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are subject. ~ Hannah Arendt
Truth sits upon the lips of dying men. ~ Matthew Arnold
Living is death; dying is life. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
To you who have never died, may I say: Welcome to the world! ~ Clive Barker
When one by one our ties are torn, and friend from friend is snatched forlorn; When man is left alone to mourn, oh! then how sweet it is to die! ~ Anna Letitia Barbauld
It is as natural to die as to be born; and to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the other. ~ Francis Bacon
I don’t believe in an after life, although I am bringing a change of underwear. ~ Woody Allen
As for death one gets used to it, even if it’s only other people’s death you get used to. ~ Enid Bagnold
A man dies … only a few circles in the water prove that he was ever there. And even they quickly disappear. And when they’re gone, he’s forgotten, without a trace, as if he’d never even existed. And that’s all. ~ Wolfgang Borchert
Let no man fear to die, we love to sleep all, and death is but the sounder sleep. ~ Francis Beaumont
Any relic of the dead is precious, if they were valued living. ~ Emily Bronte
Better to flee from death than feel its grip. ~ Homer
To a father, when a child dies, the future dies; to a child when a parent dies, the past dies. ~ Red Auerbach
There are three kinds of death in this world. There’s heart death, there’s brain death, and there’s being off the network. ~ Guy Almes
Though it be in the power of the weakest arm to take away life, it is not in the strongest to deprive us of death. ~ Sir Thomas Browne
How long after you are gone will ripples remain as evidence that you were cast into the pool of life? ~ Grant M. Bright
Death is the great adventure beside which moon landings and space trips pale in insignificance. ~ Joseph Bayly
Death is the dropping of the flower that the fruit may swell. ~ Henry Ward Beecher
To die will be an awfully big adventure. ~ James M. Barrie
I’m not afraid of death. It’s the stake one puts up in order to play the game of life. ~ Jean Giraudoux
Handbook of Death and Dying. ~ Book preview
