Opening the book…
Opening the book…
Loss, parting, and making sense of change.
“Describe an ending you handled well — or one you wish you had handled better. What do you know now?”
Related passages from different traditions. Read them together, or follow a question that interests you.
Human life is short and fleeting, and wisdom lies in accepting this without despair or denial.
28 passages · 3 traditions
For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, James 4:14, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Job 14:1-2, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Thou must hasten therefore; not only because thou art every day nearer unto death than other, but also because that intellective faculty in thee, whereby thou art enabled to know the true nature of things, and to order all thy actions by that knowledge, doth daily waste and decay: or, may fail thee before thou die.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.I, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Ecclesiastes 9:10, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Is any man so foolish as to fear change, to which all things that once were not owe their being? And what is it, that is more pleasing and more familiar to the nature of the universe? How then dost not thou perceive, that for thee also, by death, to come to change, is a thing of the very same nature, and as necessary for the nature of the universe?
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.XV, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
The time of a man's life is as a point; the substance of it ever flowing, the sense obscure; and the whole composition of the body tending to corruption. His soul is restless, fortune uncertain, and fame doubtful; to be brief, as a stream so are all things belonging to the body; as a dream, or as a smoke, so are all that belong unto the soul. Our life is a warfare, and a mere pilgrimage. Fame after life is no better than oblivion. What is it then that will adhere and follow? Only one thing, philosophy.
Dying is a transition or transformation rather than an absolute ending, whether into rebirth, eternity, or return to origin.
23 passages · 5 traditions
Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Job 1:21, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
What is meant by cause? Cause is the more subtle state of the manifested state, the unmanifested state of that which becomes manifested. What do you mean by destruction? It is reverting to the cause,--the materials out of which a body is composed go back into their original state.
— The turn of the century · Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, PRAKRITI AND PURUSHA, 1907 ↗
The Soul, Thus passing forth from the Three Qualities-- Whereby arise all bodies--overcomes Birth, Death, Sorrow, and Age; and drinketh deep The undying wine of Amrit.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 14, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Is there any motion in a straight line? A straight line infinitely projected becomes a circle, it returns to the starting point. You must end where you begin, and as you began in God, you must go back to God.
The approach of death strips away pretense, clarifying what truly matters and how a life should be judged.
29 passages · 6 traditions
The day when neither wealth nor children shall avail, Save to him who shall come to God with a sound heart.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 26:88-89, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
Then as to him whose balances are heavy-his shall be a life that shall please him well: And as to him whose balances are light-his dwelling-place shall be the pit.
Just balances will we set up for the day of the resurrection, neither shall any soul be wronged in aught; though, were a work but the weight of a grain of mustard seed, we would bring it forth to be weighed: and our reckoning will suffice.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 21:47, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
If a man in the morning hear the right way, he may die in the evening without regret.
The rituals, emotions, and proper conduct surrounding loss, mourning, and saying goodbye.
18 passages · 6 traditions
So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Job 2:13, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
High station filled without indulgent generosity; ceremonies performed without reverence; mourning conducted without sorrow;-- wherewith should I contemplate such ways?
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 3.26, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Do not try to appease your friend during his hour of anger; Nor comfort him at the hour while his dead still lies before him; Nor question him at the hour of his vow; Nor strive to see him in the hour of his disgrace.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:18, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
In festive ceremonies, it is better to be sparing than extravagant. In the ceremonies of mourning, it is better that there be deep sorrow than a minute attention to observances.
Attachment to people, possessions, and life itself prolongs suffering; release brings peace.
22 passages · 3 traditions
Receive temporal blessings without ostentation, when they are sent and thou shalt be able to part with them with all readiness and facility when they are taken from thee again.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.XXXI, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Look upon the world as a bubble, look upon it as a mirage: the king of death does not see him who thus looks down upon the world.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 13.v.170, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Good people walk on whatever befall, the good do not prattle, longing for pleasure; whether touched by happiness or sorrow wise people never appear elated or depressed.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 6.v.83, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Sons are no help, nor a father, nor relations; there is no help from kinsfolk for one whom death has seized.
The late season of life carries its own wisdom, losses, and meaning as the journey nears its close.
21 passages · 6 traditions
Learning hath his infancy, when it is but beginning and almost childish; then his youth, when it is luxuriant and juvenile; then his strength of years, when it is solid and reduced; and lastly, his old age, when it waxeth dry and exhaust.
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Vicissitude of Things, 1625 ↗
Men who have not observed proper discipline, and have not gained treasure in their youth, lie, like broken bows, sighing after the past.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 11.v.156, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
At five years of age the study of Scripture; At ten the study of Mishnah; At thirteen subject to the commandments; At fifteen the study of Talmud; At eighteen the bridal canopy; At twenty for pursuit [of livelihood]; At thirty the peak of strength; At forty wisdom; At fifty able to give counsel; At sixty old age; At seventy fullness of years; At eighty the age of "strength"; At ninety a bent body; At one hundred, as good as dead and gone completely out of the world.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 5:21, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
Some closings come too soon, cut short by loss, injustice, or failure to complete what was begun.
11 passages · 5 traditions
How shall man measure Progress there where the dark-faced Josie lies? How many heartfuls of sorrow shall balance a bushel of wheat? How hard a thing is life to the lowly, and yet how human and real!
— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Meaning of Progress, 1903 ↗
There was Yen Hui; he loved to learn. Unfortunately his appointed time was short, and he died. Now there is no one who loves to learn, as he did.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 11.6, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
People in their conduct of affairs are constantly ruining them when they are on the eve of success. If they were careful at the end, as (they should be) at the beginning, they would not so ruin them.
if a man have a true friend, he may rest almost secure that the care of those things will continue after him. So that a man hath, as it were, two lives in his desires.
`Here I shall dwell in the rain, here in winter and summer,' thus the fool meditates, and does not think of his death.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 20.v.286, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Psalms 90:12, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is always burning? Why do you not seek a light, ye who are surrounded by darkness?
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 11.v.146, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
If thou shouldst live three thousand, or as many as ten thousands of years, yet remember this, that man can part with no life properly, save with that little part of life, which he now lives: and that which he lives, is no other, than that which at every instant he parts with.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.XII, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Upon every action that thou art about, put this question to thyself; How will this when it is done agree with me? Shall I have no occasion to repent of it? Yet a very little while and I am dead and gone; and all things are at end. What then do I care for more than this, that my present action whatsoever it be, may be the proper action of one that is reasonable.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.II, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Within a very little while, thou wilt be either ashes, or a sceletum; and a name perchance; and perchance, not so much as a name. And what is that but an empty sound, and a rebounding echo?... But still that time come, what will content thee? what else, but to worship and praise the Gods; and to do good unto men. To bear with them, and to forbear to do them any wrong.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.XXVII, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Psalms 90:10, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Dost thou grieve that thou dost weigh but so many pounds, and not three hundred rather? Just as much reason hast thou to grieve that thou must live but so many years, and not longer. For as for bulk and substance thou dost content thyself with that proportion of it that is allotted unto thee, so shouldst thou for time.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.XLIV, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Proverbs 27:1, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Death subdues a man who is gathering flowers, and whose mind is distracted, before he is satiated in his pleasures.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 4.v.48, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
This life is short. Both he that praiseth, and he that is praised; he that remembers, and he that is remembered, will soon be dust and ashes. Besides, it is but in one corner of this part of the world that thou art praised; and yet in this corner, thou hast not the joint praises of all men; no nor scarce of any one constantly. And yet the whole earth itself, what is it but as one point, in regard of the whole world?
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.XIX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Thou must not in matter of death carry thyself scornfully, but as one that is well pleased with it, as being one of those things that nature hath appointed. For what thou dost conceive of these, of a boy to become a young man, to wax old, to grow, to ripen, to get teeth, or a beard, or grey hairs to beget, to bear, or to be delivered; or what other action soever it be, that is natural unto man according to the several seasons of his life; such a thing is it also to be dissolved.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.III, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Let death surprise me when it will, and where it will, I may be εὔμοιρος, or a happy man, nevertheless. For he is a happy man, who in his lifetime dealeth unto himself a happy lot and portion. A happy lot and portion is, good inclinations of the soul, good desires, good actions.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.XXX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Death carries off a man who is gathering flowers and whose mind is distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 4.v.47, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Thou shalt do; if thou shalt go about every action as thy last action, free from all vanity, all passionate and wilful aberration from reason, and from all hypocrisy, and self-love, and dislike of those things, which by the fates or appointment of God have happened unto thee.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.II, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Not as though thou hadst thousands of years to live. Death hangs over thee: whilst yet thou livest, whilst thou mayest, be good.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.XIV, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
In the mind that is once truly disciplined and purged, thou canst not find anything, either foul or impure, or as it were festered: nothing that is either servile, or affected: no partial tie; no malicious averseness; nothing obnoxious; nothing concealed. The life of such an one, death can never surprise as imperfect; as of an actor, that should die before he had ended, or the play itself were at an end, a man might speak.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.IX, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if we enter into the clefts of the mountains, is there known a spot in the whole world where death could not overcome (the mortal).
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 9.v.128, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
The world does not know that we must all come to an end here;--but those who know it, their quarrels cease at once.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 1.v.6, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Remember withal that no man properly can be said to live more than that which is now present, which is but a moment of time. Whatsoever is besides either is already past, or uncertain. The time therefore that any man doth live, is but a little, and the place where he liveth, is but a very little corner of the earth, and the greatest fame that can remain of a man after his death, even that is but little.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.X, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Be not deceived; for thou shalt never live to read thy moral commentaries, nor the acts of the famous Romans and Grecians; nor those excerpta from several books; all which thou hadst provided and laid up for thyself against thine old age. Hasten therefore to an end, and giving over all vain hopes, help thyself in time if thou carest for thyself, as thou oughtest to do.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.XV, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Psalms 23:4, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
— The turn of the century · Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, INTRODUCTION, 1907 ↗
Thou seest Me as Time who kills, Time who brings all to doom, The Slayer Time, Ancient of Days, come hither to consume
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 11, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Thou grievest where no grief should be! thou speak'st Words lacking wisdom! for the wise in heart Mourn not for those that live, nor those that die.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Every soul shall taste of death: and for trial will we prove you with evil and with good; and unto Us shall ye be brought back.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 21:35, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
The end of birth is death; the end of death Is birth: this is ordained! and mournest thou, Chief of the stalwart arm! for what befalls Which could not otherwise befall?
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Right life! And, in the hour when life is ending, With mind set fast and trustful piety, Drawing still breath beneath calm brows unbending, In happy peace that faithful one doth die,-- In glad peace passeth to Purusha's heaven.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 8, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Oh, thou soul which art at rest, Return to thy Lord, pleased, and pleasing him: Enter thou among my servants, And enter thou my Paradise.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 78-75.89:27-30, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
Nay, but as when one layeth His worn-out robes away, And taking new ones, sayeth, "These will I wear to-day!" So putteth by the spirit Lightly its garb of flesh, And passeth to inherit A residence afresh.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
The soul which is not moved, The soul that with a strong and constant calm Takes sorrow and takes joy indifferently, Lives in the life undying!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Now to set a certain time to every man's acting, belongs unto him only, who as first he was of thy composition, so is now the cause of thy dissolution. As for thyself; thou hast to do with neither. Go thy ways then well pleased and contented: for so is He that dismisseth thee.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 12.XXVII, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Luke 15:24, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never; Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams! Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever; Death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 2, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
I am the Spirit seated deep in every creature's heart; From Me they come; by Me they live; at My word they depart!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 10, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Who part the bonds constraining them to flesh, And,--Him, the Highest, worshipping alway-- No longer grow at mercy of what breeze Of summer pleasure stirs the sleeping trees, What blast of tempest tears them, bough and stem To the eternal world pass such as these!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 15, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
All on the earth shall pass away, But the face of thy Lord shall abide resplendent with majesty and glory.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 55:26-27, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
That way--the highest way--goes he who shuts The gates of all his senses, locks desire Safe in his heart, centres the vital airs Upon his parting thought, steadfastly set; And, murmuring OM, the sacred syllable-- Emblem of BRAHM--dies, meditating Me.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 8, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Who cleave, who seek in Me Refuge from birth and death, those have the Truth!
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 7, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
But--higher, deeper, innermost--abides Another Life, not like the life of sense, Escaping sight, unchanging. This endures When all created things have passed away.
— Hinduism · Bhagavad Gita, 8, tr. Edwin Arnold, 1885 ↗
Whatever is not the result of combination will never be destroyed, because destruction is decomposition. That which is not a compound cannot be destroyed.
— The turn of the century · Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, VII, 1907 ↗
Verily, we cause to live, and we cause to die. To us shall all return.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 50:43, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 4.8, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
When a bird is about to die, its notes are mournful; when a man is about to die, his words are good.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 8.4, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
When a man passes away there accompany him neither gold nor silver, nor precious stones nor pearls, but Torah and good deeds alone.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 6:9, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
For my part, I shall take care, if I can, that my death discover nothing that my life has not first and openly declared.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Chapter VII, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
Every soul shall know what it hath produced.
A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Ecclesiastes 7:1, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
Saith he, 'Of this day didst thou live in heedlessness: but we have taken off thy veil from thee, and thy sight is becoming sharp this day.'
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 50:22, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
On that day ye shall be brought before Him: none of your hidden deeds shall remain hidden.
everything is given against a pledge, and a net is spread out over all the living; the store is open and the storekeeper allows credit, but the ledger is open and the hand writes… the judgment is a righteous judgment, and everything is prepared for the banquet.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 3:16, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
This world is like a vestibule before the world to come; prepare yourself in the vestibule, so that you may enter the banqueting-hall.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:16, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
What is it then that shall always be remembered? all is vanity. What is it that we must bestow our care and diligence upon? even upon this only: that our minds and wills be just; that our actions be charitable; that our speech be never deceitful, or that our understanding be not subject to error; that our inclination be always set to embrace whatsoever shall happen unto us, as necessary, as usual, as ordinary.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.XXVIII, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
When death overtaketh one of the wicked, he saith, 'Lord, send me back again, That I may do the good which I have left undone.' 'By no means.' These are the very words which he shall speak.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 23:99-100, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
Yea, a man shall be the eye witness against himself.
They will say, 'We were not of those who prayed, And we were not of those who fed the poor, And we plunged into vain disputes with vain disputers, And we rejected as a lie, the day of reckoning, Till the certainty came upon us'—And intercession of the interceders shall not avail them.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 74:43-47, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
mark well three things and you will not come into the power of sin: know from where you come, and where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning. From where do you come? From a putrid drop. Where are you going? To a place of dust, of worm and of maggot. Before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning? Before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 3:1, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
And every man's fate have we fastened about his neck: and on the day of resurrection will we bring forth to him a book which shall be proffered to him wide open: 'Read thy Book: there needeth none but thyself to make out an account against thee this day.'
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 17:13-14, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
But he who shall have his book given into his left hand, will say, 'O that my book had never been given me! And that I had never known my reckoning! O that death had made an end of me! My wealth hath not profited me! My power hath perished from me!'
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 83-69.69:25-29, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
THE DESIRE of increasing riches occupieth you, Till ye come to the grave.
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 107-92.102:1-2, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
More precious is one hour in repentance and good deeds in this world, than all the life of the world to come; And more precious is one hour of the tranquility of the world to come, than all the life of this world.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:17, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
And whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of good shall behold it, And whosoever shall have wrought an atom's weight of evil shall behold it.
The duke Ching of Ch'i had a thousand teams, each of four horses, but on the day of his death, the people did not praise him for a single virtue. Po-i and Shu-ch'i died of hunger at the foot of the Shau-yang mountain, and the people, down to the present time, praise them.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 16.12, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of royalty, but the crown of a good name supersedes them all.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:13, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
But these men love the fleeting present, and leave behind them the heavy day of doom.
Against your will were you formed, against your will were you born, against your will you live, against your will you will die, and against your will you will give an account and reckoning before the King of the kings of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 4:22, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
But as to him who is covetous and bent on riches, And calleth the Good a lie, To him will we make easy the path to misery: And what shall his wealth avail him when he goeth down?
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 107-92.92:8-11, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
What! Did ye then think that we had created you for pastime, and that ye should not be brought back again to us?
— Qur’an · Qur'an, 23:115, tr. J. M. Rodwell, 1861 ↗
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 3.4, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
He who has killed multitudes of men should weep for them with the bitterest grief; and the victor in battle has his place (rightly) according to those rites.
From Apollonius, true liberty, and unvariable steadfastness, and not to regard anything at all, though never so little, but right and reason: and always, whether in the sharpest pains, or after the loss of a child, or in long diseases, to be still the same man.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.V, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
When any of his friends died, if he had no relations who could be depended on for the necessary offices, he would say, 'I will bury him.'
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 10.15, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
It is not till a child is three years old that it is allowed to leave the arms of its parents. And the three years' mourning is universally observed throughout the empire. Did Yu enjoy the three years' love of his parents?
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 17.21, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
He sacrificed to the dead, as if they were present. He sacrificed to the spirits, as if the spirits were present. The Master said, 'I consider my not being present at the sacrifice, as if I did not sacrifice.'
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 3.12, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
A superior man, during the whole period of mourning, does not enjoy pleasant food which he may eat, nor derive pleasure from music which he may hear. He also does not feel at ease, if he is comfortably lodged.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 17.21, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
The Kwan Tsu is expressive of enjoyment without being licentious, and of grief without being hurtfully excessive.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 3.20, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
The years of parents may by no means not be kept in the memory, as an occasion at once for joy and for fear.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 4.21, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Not until this last separation, dear reader, had I touched those profounder depths of desolation, which it is the lot of slaves often to reach. I was solitary in the world, and alone within the walls of a stone prison, left to a fate of life-long misery.
— Transcendentalism · Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, Chapter (solitary imprisonment), 1855 ↗
'Is it excessive?' said he. 'If I am not to mourn bitterly for this man, for whom should I mourn?'
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 11.9, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
Things that are done, it is needless to speak about; things that have had their course, it is needless to remonstrate about; things that are past, it is needless to blame.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 3.21, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
— Hebrew & Christian Bible · Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, tr. King James Version (1611/1769) ↗
They are, in regard to the aged, to give them rest; in regard to friends, to show them sincerity; in regard to the young, to treat them tenderly.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 5.25, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
When he saw any one in a mourning dress, though it might be an acquaintance, he would change countenance; when he saw any one wearing the cap of full dress, or a blind person, though he might be in his undress, he would salute them in a ceremonious manner.
— Confucianism · Confucius, Analects, 10.16, tr. James Legge, 1893 ↗
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 20.v.288, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Death comes and carries off that man, praised for his children and flocks, his mind distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 20.v.287, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Make thyself an island, work hard, be wise! When thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from guilt, thou wilt enter into the heavenly world of the elect.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 18.v.236, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
There is no fire like passion; there is no losing throw like hatred; there is no pain like this body; there is no happiness higher than rest.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 15.v.202, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Let, therefore, no man love anything; loss of the beloved is evil. Those who love nothing and hate nothing, have no fetters.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 16.v.211, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
All things spring up, and there is not one which declines to show itself; they grow, and there is no claim made for their ownership; they go through their processes, and there is no expectation (of a reward for the results). The work is accomplished, and there is no resting in it (as an achievement).
— Taoism · Tao Te Ching, 1-8.2, tr. James Legge, 1891 ↗
When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on itself. When the work is done, and one's name is becoming distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.
From love comes grief, from love comes fear; he who is free from love knows neither grief nor fear.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 16.v.215, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
The brilliant chariots of kings are destroyed, the body also approaches destruction, but the virtue of good people never approaches destruction,--thus do the good say to the good.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 11.v.151, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Leaving all pleasures behind, and calling nothing his own, the wise man should purge himself from all the troubles of the mind.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 6.v.87-88, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Give what thou wilt, and take away what thou wilt, saith he that is well taught and truly modest, to Him that gives, and takes away. And it is not out of a stout and peremptory resolution, that he saith it, but in mere love, and humble submission.
— Stoicism · Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 10.XVI, tr. Meric Casaubon (1634/1635) ↗
Even in heavenly pleasures he finds no satisfaction, the disciple who is fully awakened delights only in the destruction of all desires.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 14.v.187, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Pleasant is virtue lasting to old age, pleasant is a faith firmly rooted; pleasant is attainment of intelligence, pleasant is avoiding of sins.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 23.v.333, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
Or fame or life, which do you hold more dear? Or life or wealth, to which would you adhere? Keep life and lose those other things; keep them and lose your life:--which brings sorrow and pain more near?
Those who are slaves to passions, run down with the stream (of desires), as a spider runs down the web which he has made himself; when they have cut this, at last, wise people leave the world free from cares, leaving all affection behind.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 24.v.347, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
He who never identifies himself with name and form, and does not grieve over what is no more, he indeed is called a Bhikshu.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 25.v.367, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
The world does not know that we must all come to an end here;--but those who know it, their quarrels cease at once.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 1.v.6, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
The people make light of dying because of the greatness of their labours in seeking for the means of living. It is this which makes them think light of dying. Thus it is that to leave the subject of living altogether out of view is better than to set a high value on it.
There is no suffering for him who has finished his journey, and abandoned grief, who has freed himself on all sides, and thrown off all fetters.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 7.v.90, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
If we must study, let us study what is suitable to our present condition, that we may answer as he did, who being asked to what end he studied in his decrepit age, 'that I may go out better,' said he, 'and at greater ease.'
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Chapter XXVIII (preceding XXIX), tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
To be poor when one is old, is a great misfortune. If a man is secure from that, and retains his health, old age may be a very passable time of life.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section on old age (first paragraph), tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
It is certainly a rash thing to wish for long life; for as the Spanish proverb has it, it means to see much evil,--_Quien larga vida vive mucho mal vide_.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section on youth vs. age, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
Beauty, strength, riches, honor, wisdom, [old age], gray hair, and children are becoming to the righteous, and becoming to the world.
— Rabbinic Judaism · Pirkei Avot, 6:8, tr. Joshua Kulp, Mishnah Yomit (Sefaria, CC-BY) ↗
It is certainly a very melancholy thing that all a man's faculties tend to waste away as he grows old, and at a rate that increases in rapidity: but still, this is a necessary, nay, a beneficial arrangement, as otherwise death, for which it is a preparation, would be too hard to bear.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section on old age (third paragraph), tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
The main difference between youth and age will always be that youth looks forward to life, and old age to death; and that while the one has a short past and a long future before it, the case is just the opposite with the other.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section on youth vs. age, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
Speaking generally, sociability stands in inverse ratio with age. A little child raises a piteous cry of fright if it is left alone for only a few minutes; and later on, to be shut up by itself is a great punishment. Young people soon get on very friendly terms with one another; it is only the few among them of any nobility of mind who are glad now and then to be alone;--but to spend the whole day thus would be disagreeable. A grown-up man can easily do it; it is little trouble to him to be much alone, and it becomes less and less trouble as he advances in years.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, § on age and sociability, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
When things have become strong, they (then) become old, which may be said to be contrary to the Tao. Whatever is contrary to the Tao soon ends.
Our moulting season, like that of the fowls, must be a crisis in our lives.
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗
With this increased rapidity of time, boredom mostly passes away as we advance in life; and as the passions with all their attendant pain are then laid asleep, the burden of life is, on the whole, appreciably lighter in later years than in youth, provided, of course, that health remains.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section on consciousness and time, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
When things have attained their strong maturity they become old. This may be said to be not in accordance with the Tao: and what is not in accordance with it soon comes to an end.
But he who lives a hundred years, vicious and unrestrained, a life of one day is better if a man is virtuous and reflecting.
— Buddhism · Dhammapada, 8.v.110, tr. F. Max Müller, 1881 ↗
As life becomes more and more unconscious, the nearer it approaches the point at which all consciousness ceases, the course of time itself seems to increase in rapidity. In childhood all the things and circumstances of life are novel; and that is sufficient to awake us to the full consciousness of existence: hence, at that age, the day seems of such immense length.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section on consciousness and time, tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
At that time of life, _what a man has in himself_ is of greater advantage to him than ever it was before.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section on old age (near end), tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
Pinings of youth that might not understand! For which I pined, Which I deemed changed with me, kin of my kind: But they grew old, and thus were doomed and banned: None but new kith are native of my land!
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, FROM THE HEIGHTS, stanza 12, tr. Helen Zimmern, 1907 ↗
Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered. Thus it is that firmness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness, the concomitants of life.
There can be no doubt that most people who have never been anything but dull and stupid, become more and more of automata as they grow old. They have always thought, said and done the same things as their neighbors; and nothing that happens now can change their disposition, or make them act otherwise.
— Nineteenth-century philosophy · Arthur Schopenhauer, Counsels and Maxims, Section on old age (second paragraph), tr. T. Bailey Saunders, 1890 ↗
He who does not fail in the requirements of his position, continues long; he who dies and yet does not perish, has longevity.
— Renaissance humanism · Francis Bacon, The Essays or Counsels, Civil and Moral, Of Friendship, 1625 ↗
I have taken notice of several in my time, who, convicted by their consciences of unjustly detaining the goods of another, have endeavoured to make amends by their will, and after their decease; but they had as good do nothing, as either in taking so much time in so pressing an affair, or in going about to remedy a wrong with so little dissatisfaction or injury to themselves. They owe, over and above, something of their own; and by how much their payment is more strict and incommodious to themselves, by so much is their restitution more just and meritorious. Penitency requires penalty.
— Renaissance humanism · Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Chapter VII, tr. Charles Cotton, ed. W. C. Hazlitt, 1877 ↗
It is a hard thing to live haunted by the ghost of an untrue dream; to see the wide vision of empire fade into real ashes and dirt; to feel the pang of the conquered, and yet know that with all the Bad that fell on one black day, something was vanquished that deserved to live, something killed that in justice had not dared to die; to know that with the Right that triumphed, triumphed something of Wrong, something sordid and mean, something less than the broadest and best.
— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Wings of Atalanta, 1903 ↗
The passing of a great human institution before its work is done, like the untimely passing of a single soul, but leaves a legacy of striving for other men.
— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Dawn of Freedom, 1903 ↗
Not until this last separation, dear reader, had I touched those profounder depths of desolation, which it is the lot of slaves often to reach. I was solitary in the world, and alone within the walls of a stone prison, left to a fate of life-long misery.
— Transcendentalism · Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, Chapter (solitary imprisonment), 1855 ↗
But the sorrows of childhood, like the pleasures of after life, are transient. It is not even within the power of slavery to write _indelible_ sorrow, at a single dash, over the heart of a child.
— Transcendentalism · Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, Chapter I, 1855 ↗
A revolution such as that of '63 is a terrible thing; they that rose rich in the morning often slept in paupers' beds. Beggars and vulgar speculators rose to rule over them, and their children went astray.
— The turn of the century · W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, Of the Black Belt, 1903 ↗
Most of the stone a nation hammers goes toward its tomb only. It buries itself alive.
— Transcendentalism · Henry David Thoreau, Walden, and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, Economy, 1854 ↗