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 (November 1, 1886 – May 30, 1951)

Every man’s world picture is and always
remains a construct of his mind, and cannot
be proved to have any other existence.
Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961), Austrian theoretical physicist and winner of the 1933 Nobel Prize in physics

~ ~ ~

The day will come when, after harnessing
the winds, the tides and gravitation,
we shall harness for God the energies of Love.
And on that day, for the second time in the
History of the world, man will have discovered
fire.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), French palaeontologist and philosopher, involved in the discovery of Peking Man and author of The Phenomenon of Man (published posthumously in 1955)

~ ~ ~

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
-St Paul, I Corinthians 15:26

~ ~ ~

Why should I fear death?
If I am, death is not.
If death is, I am not.
Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?
Epicurus philosopher, c.341-270 BCE

~ ~ ~

I died as a mineral and became a plant.
I died as plant and rose to animal.
I died as animal and I was man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as man, to soar
With angels blessed. But even from angelhood
I must pass on. All except God doth perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel soul,
I shall become what no mind e’er conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! For non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones, “To Him we shall return.”
Rumi (1207-1273)

~ ~ ~

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)

~ ~ ~

No man is an Island, entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,
As well as if a promontory were,
As well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were.
Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls:
It tolls for thee.
John Donne (1573-1631), English divine and greatest of the Metaphysical Poets

~ ~ ~

All life does end, and each day dies with sleep.
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889), English poet and Jesuit priest

~ ~ ~

Behold, I shew you a mystery:
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:
for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed.
-St Paul, I Corinthians 15: 51, 52

~ ~ ~

Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral?
Is it because we are not the person concerned?
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910)

~ ~ ~

To himself everyone is immortal.
He may know that he is going to die,
but he can never know that he is dead.
Samuel Butler (1835-1902), English author (Erewhon 1872, The Way of All Flesh 1903), painter and composer

~ ~ ~

While I thought I was learning how to live,
I have been learning how to die.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Notebooks 1508-1518

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817–May 6, 1862)

Until you value yourself you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.
M. Scott Peck (May 22, 1936–September 25, 2005)

Unless a man undertakes more than he possibly can do, he will never do all that he can.
Henry Drummond (August 17, 1851 - March 11, 1897)

The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of the final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.
John F. Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963)

It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end. Ursula K. Le Guin

Many persons have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968)

Let us endeavor to live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. Mark Twain (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)

Choose always the way that seems the best, however rough it may be. Custom will soon render it easy and agreeable.
Pythagoras (Greek: circa 580 BC – circa 500 BC)

The journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
Lao Tzu (lived in the 6th century BC)

Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is; the tree is the real thing.
Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809—April 15, 1865)

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
Dale Carnegie (November 24, 1888 - November 1, 1955)

He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.
William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910)

Reputation is only a candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit.
James Russell Lowell (22 February 1819, - 12 August 1891)

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
Mark Twain (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910)

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.
Socrates (circa 470–399 BC)

First of all it must be known who the God of heaven is, since upon that all the other things depend.
Emanuel Swedenborg (January 29, 1688 – March 29, 1772)

You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it.
Art Buchwald (October 20, 1925 – January 17, 2007)

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha

Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.
M.Scott Peck (May 22, 1936 - September 25, 2005)

The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing.
Marcus Aurelius (April 26, 121[1] – March 17, 180)

It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.
Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955)

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.
Napoléon Bonaparte (15 August 1769; Ajaccio, Corsica – 5 May 1821; Saint Helena)

Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.
Aristotle