The Quotes canon

Sourced and curated.

Every quote has been curated by hand and carefully authenticated.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
The afterlife26 quotes
To be or not to be—that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep— No more—and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep— To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. — William Shakespeare · 1616We always imagine eternity as something beyond our conception, something vast. But why must it be vast? Instead of all that, what if it’s one little room, like a bath house in the country, black and grimy and spiders in every corner, and that’s all eternity is? — Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1866We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds. — Anton Chekhov · 1898We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a troubled dream; it may be so the moment after death. — Nathaniel Hawthorne · 1836Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. — Clare Harner · 1934To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCAll 26 quotes →
Death10 quotes
To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCEither death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is to gain; for eternity is then only a single night. — Socrates · 339 BCTell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1838I that have not your faith, how shall I know That in the blinding light beyond the grave We’ll find so good a thing as that we have lost? — W.B. Yeats · 1910The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. — Psalm 115:17 · 450 BCThere is no one who returns from beyond that he may tell of their state that he may tell of their lot that he may set our hearts at ease until we make our journey to the place where they have gone. — Harper's Songs · 1700 BCAll 10 quotes →
There is no one who returns from beyond that he may tell of their state that he may tell of their lot that he may set our hearts at ease until we make our journey to the place where they have gone. — Harper's Songs · 1700 BCThe undiscovered country from whose bourn No traveler returns, puzzles the will And makes us rather bear those ills we have Than fly to others that we know not of? — William Shakespeare · 1616But already it is time to depart, for me to die, for you to go on living; which of us takes the better course, is not known to anyone except God. — Socrates · 399 BCDeath is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BC
Life3 quotes
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1838I that have not your faith, how shall I know That in the blinding light beyond the grave We’ll find so good a thing as that we have lost? — W.B. Yeats · 1910Were the happinesse of the next world as closely apprehended as the felicities of this, it were a martyrdom to live. — Sir Thomas Browne · 1658
The soul3 quotes
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream! For the soul is dead that slumbers, And things are not what they seem. Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · 1838Death is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BCIt is perfectly certain that the soul is immortal and imperishable, and our souls will actually exist in another world. — Socrates · 347 BC
Heaven2 quotes
We shall find peace. We shall hear the angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds. — Anton Chekhov · 1898Were the happinesse of the next world as closely apprehended as the felicities of this, it were a martyrdom to live. — Sir Thomas Browne · 1658
Oblivion2 quotes
The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence. — Psalm 115:17 · 450 BCDeath is, you see, one or the other of two things: either to be dead is to be non-existent, as it were, and a dead person has no awareness of anything at all; or else, as we are told, the soul undergoes some sort of transformation, or exchanging of this present world for another. — Socrates · 399 BC
Resurrection2 quotes
For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God. — Job · 500 BCIf a man die, shall he live again? — Job · 500 BC
The present life is naught but a diversion and a sport; surely the Last Abode is Life, did they but know. — Muhammad · 632They say, "There is nothing but our present life; we die and we live, and nothing but Time destroys us." Of that they have no knowledge; they merely conjecture. — Muhammad · 632
The unknown2 quotes
To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BCEither death is a state of nothingness and utter unconsciousness, or, as men say, there is a change and migration of the soul from this world to another. Now if death be of such a nature, I say that to die is to gain; for eternity is then only a single night. — Socrates · 339 BC
Remember: it is not given to man to take his goods with him. No one goes away and then comes back. — The Song of the Harper · 2600 BC
The immortals will send you to the Elysian plain at the ends of the earth, where fair-haired Rhadamanthys is. There life is supremely easy for men. No snow is there, nor ever heavy winter storm, nor rain, and Ocean is ever sending gusts of the clear-blowing west wind to bring coolness to men. — Homer · 700 BC
Eternity1 quote
We always imagine eternity as something beyond our conception, something vast. But why must it be vast? Instead of all that, what if it’s one little room, like a bath house in the country, black and grimy and spiders in every corner, and that’s all eternity is? — Fyodor Dostoevsky · 1866
To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BC
Ignorance1 quote
To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. — Socrates · 399 BC
Do not stand at my grave and weep, I am not there, I do not sleep. — Clare Harner · 1934
In this world, a man, himself, is nothing. And there ain't no world but this one. — 1st Sgt. Welsh · 1998
Suicide1 quote
To be or not to be—that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep— No more—and by a sleep to say we end The heartache and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep— To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub, For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause. — William Shakespeare · 1616
In this world, a man, himself, is nothing. And there ain't no world but this one. — 1st Sgt. Welsh · 1998
For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God. — Job · 500 BC