To the well-organised mind death is but the next great adventure. J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time. Samuel Johnson
People in times of extreme mourning and bereavement will see – actually see, honestly believe they see – the dead person before them. Kathleen E Corley, University of Wisconsin, interview Decoding the Past: Resurrection, History 2005
Deception is not as creative as truth. We do best in life if we look at it with clear eyes, and I think that applies to coming up to death as well. Cicely Saunders, Time 5th September 1988
A man’s dying is more the survivors’ affair than his own. Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain, 1924
I am ready to meet my maker, but whether my maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. Winston Churchill
The key to dying well is for you to decide where, when, how and whom to invite to the last party. Timothy Leary, cited Daily Telegraph 3rd May 1996
I live now on borrowed time, waiting in the anteroom for the summons that will inevitably come. And then – I go on to the next thing, whatever it is. One doesn’t luckily have to bother about that. Agatha Christie
Death is very likely the single best invention of life. Steve Jobs
Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Goldfinger: No, Mr Bond. I expect you to die. Goldfinger 1964 starring Sean Connery & Honor Blackman & Gert Frobe & Shirley Eaton & Harold Sakata & Tania Mallet & Bernard Lee & Cec Linder & Martin Benson & Desmond Llewelyn & Lois Maxwell & Austin Willis & Michael Mellinger et al, director Guy Hamilton
Let his death be a particularly unpleasant and humiliating one. From Russia with Love 1963 starring Sean Connery & Daniela Bianchi & Lotte Lenya & Robert Shaw & Pedro Armendariz & Lotte Lenya & Bernard Lee & Walter Gotell et al, director Terence Young, Spectre
Death helps. Death gives us something to do. Because it’s a full-time job looking the other way. Martin Amis, London Fields
All has been looted, betrayed, sold; black death’s wing flashed ahead. Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet, 1889-1966
It was a time when only the dead smiled, happy in their peace. Anna Akhmatova
I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade. Alan Seeger, poem 1916
Death is the privilege of human nature,
And life without it were not worth our taking. Nicholas Rowe, The Fair Penitent, 1703
Death is a great friend ... When they put you into the box, that is your immortality. Frank Lloyd Wright, televised interview
Is he then dead?
What, dead at last, quite, quite for ever dead! William Congreve, 1670-1729, The Mourning Bride
O woe, woe,
People are born and die,
We also shall be dead pretty soon
Therefore let us act is if we were
Dead already. Ezra Pound, Song in the Manner of Housman
I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead. Jean Cocteau, ‘Visite, Discours du Grand Sommeil’, 1920
The day of my birth, my death began its walk. It is walking toward me, without hurrying. Jean Cocteau, ‘Postambule, La Fin du Potomac’, 1939
You’ve never seen death? Look in the mirror every day and you will see it like bees working in a glass hive. Jean Cocteau, cited Ned Rorem, ‘The Dick Cavett Show’, PBS 1981
Here lies Fred,
Who was alive and is dead:
Had it been his father,
I had much rather;
Had it been his brother,
Still better than another;
Had it been his sister,
No-one would have missed her;
Had it been the whole generation,
So much better for the nation:
But since 'tis only Fred,
Who was alive and is dead,
There’s no more to be said. Anonymous, On Prince Frederick
Pale death, the grand physician, cures all pain;
The dead rest well who lived for joys in vain. John Clare, 1793-1864, Childe Harold
Before the Qa’im’s rise two deaths will occur: one death red and the other white. These will kill five out of every seven persons. The red death will occur by means of killing and the white through epidemics. Imam Jaffar Sadiq
My thoughts are crowded with death
and it draws so oddly on the sexual
that I am confused
confused to be attracted
by, in effect, my own annihilation. Thom Gunn, In Time of Plague, 1992
We shall die alone. Blaise Pascal, Pensees, 1670
It hath been often said, that it is not death, but dying, which is terrible. Henry Fielding, 1707-54, Amelia, 1751
Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her, it is just as lucky to die and I know it. Walt Whitman, Song of Myself, 1855
When rowan leaves are dank and rusting
And roman berries red as blood,
When in my palm the hangman’s thrusting
The final nail with bony thud ...
Then, through the blood, and weeping, stretches
My dying spirit to space remote;
I see upon the river’s reaches
Christ sailing to me in a boat. Alexander Blok, Autumn Love, 1907
A surfer was attacked by a great white shark. Incredibly he survived thanks to the intervention of dolphins – did they intentionally risk their lives to save a human’s? Is it possible to smell death? Across America domestic pets acted as prophets of doom accurately predicting when someone would die. Weird or What? s1e4: Grim Reapers, Discovery 2010
Can cats and dogs sense impending death? ibid.
The human body also gives off odours when it’s dying. ibid.
Is human hibernation possible? Can we literally freeze out death? A small child froze in sub-zero temperatures. Clinically dead for two hours. She amazingly survived. How is this possible? Weird or What? s1e5: Human Popsicle
Erica survived her ordeal without suffering any form of brain damage. ibid.
Since the beginning of time man has lived in awe of death. The ancients shrouded its mystery in intricate and powerful rituals. What drove ancient Egyptian priests to sell mummified reptiles? How did an ancient Chinese super-sleuth invent techniques that practically allowed the dead to speak from the grave? To what lengths would an ancient Chinese emperor go to create a heaven on earth for himself, complete with an army, a flowing river system and booby traps? And what actually happened to the body of Jesus Christ during his crucifixion? Ancient Discoveries s6e12: Rituals of Death, History 2009
The main purpose of crucifixion might not have been to simply execute but to keep the victim alive in agony for as long as possible. But crucifixion is a lot older than the Old Testament. ibid.
The ancients believed the Earth itself as a living deity that must not be contaminated by the evil touch of a wrongdoer. ibid.
Crucifixion: It was discovered in Persia by Alexander the Great in the 4th century B.C. and he brought it back to Europe. Crucifixion became widespread throughout the Roman world. It was an instrument of social control. ibid.
Ancient Egypt was a civilisation obsessed with the rituals of death. ibid.