#dying

Ravens are the birds I'll miss most when I die. If only the darkness into which we must look were composed of the black light of their limber intelligence. If only we did not have to die at all. Instead, become ravens. ↗

— Louise Erdrich

#ravens #death

It's taken years for me to understand that dying doesn't end the story; it transforms it. Edits, rewrites, the blur, aand epiphany of one-way dialogue. Most of us wander in and out of one another's lives until not death, but distance, does us part-- time and space and heart's weariness are the blander executioners or human connection. ↗

— Gail Caldwell

#death

I have seen many die, surrounded by loved ones, and their last words were ‘I love you.’ There were some who could no longer speak yet with their eyes and soft smile left behind that same healing message. I have been in rooms where those who were dying made it feel like sacred ground. (26) ↗

— Stephen Levine

#dying #healing #love #sacred-ground #death

You live on - in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here...Death ends life, not a relationship. ↗

— Mitch Albom

#life #love #relationships #death

We must conquer life by living it to the full, and then we can go to meet death with a certain prestige. ↗

— Aleister Crowley

#life #death

You’ve thrown down the gauntlet. You’ve brought my wrath down upon your house. Now, to prove that I exist I must kill you. As the child outlives the father, so must the character bury the author. If you are, in fact, my continuing author, then killing you will end my existence as well. Small loss. Such a life, as your puppet, is not worth living. But… If I destroy you and your dreck script, and I still exist… then my existence will be glorious, for I will become my own master. ↗

— Chuck Palahniuk

#damned #death #dying #heaven #hell

I have seem even those who have long since abjured God die in grace. . . . Atheists don't use their drying to bargain for a better seat at the table; indeed they may not even believe supper is being served. They are not storing up 'merit.'; They just smile because their heart is ripe. They are kind for no particular reason; they just love. ↗

— Stephen Levine

#compassion #death #dying #kindness #love

After sixty-one years together, she simply clutched my hand and exhaled. ↗

— Sara Gruen

#dying #love #death

I wanted to keep looking at her because I wanted to never take my eyes from her, but still I had to lower my eyes, I was so ashamed that even now Jenny was reading my mind so perfectly. 'Listen, that's the only goddamn thing I'm asking, Ollie. Otherwise, I know you'll be okay.' That thing in my gut was stirring again, so I was afraid to even speak the word 'okay.' I just looked mutely at Jenny. ↗

— Erich Segal

#sadness #death

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still! ↗

— George Gordon Byron

#byron #death-and-dying #destruction-of-sennacherib #war #warriors