He is dead and gone, lady,
He is dead and gone,
At his head a grass-green turf;
At his heels a stone. ibid. IV v 29
His means of death, his obscure burial,
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment o’er his bones,
No noble rite nor formal ostentation. ibid. IV v 213
Is she to be buried in Christian burial that wilfully seeks her own salvation? ibid. V i 1
How long will a man lie i’ th’ earth ere he rot? ibid. V i 148 Hamlet to Gravedigger
Alas, poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. ibid. V i 201
To what base uses we may return, Horatio! ibid. V i 222
Lay her i’ the earth;
And from her fair and unpolluted flesh
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,
A ministering angel shall my sister be,
When thou liest howling. ibid. V i 260
This fell sergeant, death
Is swift in his arrest. ibid. V ii 320
Good night, sweet prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! ibid. V ii 341-342
If thou didst ever hold in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story. ibid. V ii 360
The rest is silence. ibid. V ii 372
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. ibid. V ii 385
Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
For he was lively, had he been put on,
To have proved most royally. ibid. V ii 409
Be absolute for death; either death or life
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life:
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing
That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art. William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure III i 5
If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms. ibid. III i 81
Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot …
Imagine howling – ’tis too horrible! ibid. III i 118-119 & 128, Claudio
It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and then have we a prescription to die when death is our physician. William Shakespeare, Othello I iii 308-310, Roderigo
If it were now to die
’Twere now to be most happy. ibid. II i 190-191
I’d have thee live,
For in my sense ’tis happiness to die. ibid. V ii 295-296
O, our lives’ sweetness,
That with the pain of death would hourly die
Rather than die at once! William Shakespeare, The History of King Lear V iii 181-183, Edgar
Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it: he died
As one that had been studied in his death
To throw away the dearest thing he owed
As ’twere a careless trifle. William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth I iv 7, Malcolm
Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time. ibid. II iii 98
I ‘gin to be aweary of the sun,
And wish the estate o’ the world were now undone.
Ring the alarum-bell! Blow, wind! come, wrack!
At least we’ll die with harness on our back. ibid. V v 49
Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies
A lass unparalleled. William Shakespeare, Anthony & Cleopatra V ii 317
She hath pursued conclusions infinite
Of easy ways to die. ibid. V ii 356
Better it is to die, better to starve,
Than crave the hire which first we do deserve. William Shakespeare, Coriolanus II iii 113-114, Coriolanus
Guiderius: Fear no more the heat o’ th’ sun,
Nor the furious winters rages.
You thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone and ta’en thy wages.
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
Arviragus: Fear no more the frown o’ th’ great,
Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke.
Care no more to clothe and eat,
To thee the reed is as the oak.
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this and come to dust. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline IV ii @259
And my ending is despaire unless I be reliev’d by prayer. Which pierces so that it assaults mercy itself and frees all thoughts, as you from crimes would pardon’d be, let your indulgence set me free. William Shakespeare, The Tempest epilogue, Prospero
Go with me, like good angels, to my end;
And, as the long divorce of steel falls on me,
Make of your prayers one sweet sacrifice,
And lift my soul to heaven. William Shakespeare, Henry VIII II i 75
But now I lived, and life was death’s annoy;
But now I died, and death was lively joy. William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms to dwell. William Shakespeare, Sonnet 71
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish’d by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long. William Shakespeare, Sonnet 73
So shalt thou feed on Death, that feeds on men,
And Death once dead, there’s no more dying then. William Shakespeare, Sonnet 146
Better be with the dead. Macbeth 2001 starring Antony Sher & Harriet Walter, director Gregory Doran Roundhouse London, Macbeth
Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it. Macbeth 1948 starring Orson Welles & Jeanette Nolan & Dan O'Herlihy & Peggy Webber & Roddy McDowall & Edgar Barrier & Alan Napier & Erskine Sanford & Christopher Welles & Jerry Farber & John Dierkes et al, director Orson Welles, Malcolm
That we shall die we know; tis but the time and drawing days out that men stand upon. Julius Caesar 2012 starring Paterson Joseph & Ray Fearon & Cyril Nri & Adjoa Andoh & Jeffery Kissoon et al, director Gregory Duran, RSC production ***** Brutus
All shall die. Death is certain. (Shakespeare & Death) The Hollow Crown: Henry IV part II ***** starring Jeremy Irons & Simon Russell Beale & Tom Hiddleston & Alun Armstrong & David Bamber & Julie Walters & Niamh Cusack & David Dawson & Michaelle Dockery et al, director Richard Eyre, Robert Shallow, BBC 2012
A man can die but once; we owe God a death. ibid. Feeble
Nothing can we call our own but Death. The Hollow Crown: Richard II starring Ben Whishaw & Rory Kinnear & Patrick Stewart & David Suchet & David Morrissey & Lindsay Duncan & Tom Hughes & James Purefoy & Clemence Poesy & Ferdinand Kinsley et al, director Rupert Goold
We die. It’s as easy as that. So let’s make the best of what we’ve got while we’ve got it. Have a blast! And help others have a blast! Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s1e12 Ouiji Boards & Near Death Exprerience, Showtime 2003
There are very few bad decisions more expensive than cryogenics. Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s2e9: Death Inc
If you’ve got too much money and you feel like you’re close to dying, hookers is always a good answer. ibid.
Dying is a very dull, dreary affair. And my advice to you is to have nothing whatever to do with it. W Somerset Maugham, to nephew Robin 1965