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
Death and Dying Proverbs and Their Meanings
No subject has gathered more proverbs than death, and for good reason: every culture has had to make sense of the one thing that comes to us all. The sayings above are by turns solemn, consoling, and unexpectedly wry. Here are some of the most enduring death and dying proverbs explained, so the wisdom behind each one is clear.
- “Nothing is certain but death and taxes” — of everything in life, only two things are truly unavoidable: that we will die, and that we will be taxed.
- “Death is the great leveler” — death comes to everyone alike and erases all distinctions of wealth, rank, and power.
- “When death comes, the rich man has no money and the poor man no debt” (Estonian) — death cancels every worldly account; we leave it all behind.
- “Death keeps no calendar” (English) — death can arrive at any moment, without warning and on no schedule of ours.
- “Death is a black camel that lies down at every door” (Saudi Arabian) — sooner or later death visits every household; no one is passed over.
- “Fear of death is worse than death itself” — the dread of dying torments us far more than the moment of death ever could.
- “He who is afraid of death loses his life” (Romanian) — fearing death so much that you never truly live is itself a kind of dying.
- “The fear of death takes away the joy of living” (Ukrainian) — dwelling on mortality robs the present of its happiness.
- “Every man goes down to his death bearing in his hands only that which he has given away” (Persian) — in the end, only our generosity and good deeds go with us, not our possessions.
- “Good men must die, but death cannot kill their names” — a good reputation and the memory of a good life outlast the person.
- “There is a remedy for everything except death” (French) — every problem in life has some solution; only mortality has none.
- “Life is a temporary stop, death is the journey home” (Vietnamese) — death is seen not as an end but as a return, a homecoming.
- “Death is the dropping of the flower that the fruit may swell” (Henry Ward Beecher) — death is part of a natural cycle that makes new life and growth possible.
- “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once” (Shakespeare) — the fearful suffer death over and over in their imagination, while the brave face it only once, when it truly comes.
For sayings on the other side of the coin, see our life proverbs and time proverbs, or explore the full library of proverbs and their meanings.
Death Proverbs — Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most famous proverb about death?
The best-known are “nothing is certain but death and taxes” and “death is the great leveler” — both reminders that death is unavoidable and comes to everyone equally.
What do proverbs say about the fear of death?
Many teach that fear is the greater enemy: “fear of death is worse than death itself” and “he who is afraid of death loses his life” both warn that dread can poison the life we still have.
What is a comforting proverb about death?
“Life is a temporary stop, death is the journey home” (Vietnamese) and “death is the dropping of the flower that the fruit may swell” both frame death gently, as a homecoming or a natural part of life’s cycle.
What does “death is the great leveler” mean?
It means that death comes to everyone regardless of their wealth, status, or power — in death, king and beggar are made equal.