Malory, Thomas -- Le Morte d’Arthur, Book 4, ch. 10 (1485)
For I have promised to do the battle to the uttermost, by faith of my body, while me lasteth the life, and therefore I had liefer to die with honour than to live with shame; and if it were possible for...
View ArticleArtaud, Antonin -- “On Suicide” #1, Le Disque Vert (1925)
If I commit suicide, it will not be to destroy myself but to put myself back together again. Suicide will be for me only one means of violently reconquering myself, of brutally invading my being, of...
View ArticleArtaud, Antonin -- Van Gogh, the Man Suicided by Society [Le Suicidé de la...
And what is an authentic lunatic? He is a man who has preferred to become what is socially understood as mad rather than forfeit a certain superior idea of human honor. In its asylums, society has...
View ArticleMcFee, William -- Casuals of the Sea, Book 2, ch. 2 (1916)
If fate means you to lose, give him a good fight anyhow. William McFee (1881-1966) English writerCasuals of the Sea, Book 2, ch. 2 (1916)
View ArticleZweig, Stefan -- Stellar Moments in Human History [Sternstunden der...
Only ambition is fired by the coincidences of success and easy accomplishment but nothing is quite as splendidly uplifting to the heart as the defeat of a human being who battles against the invincible...
View ArticleZweig, Stefan -- Beware of Pity (1939)
The instinct for self-deception in human beings makes them try to banish from their minds dangers of which at bottom they are perfectly aware by declaring them non-existent. Stefan Zweig (1881-1942)...
View ArticleBamford, Maria -- “The Special Special Special!” (2012)
If you stay alive for no other reason at all, please do it for spite. Maria Bamford (b. 1970) American actress and stand-up comedian“The Special Special Special!” (2012)
View ArticleBurchill, Julie -- Quoted in The Independent (5 Dec 1989)
Tears are sometimes an inappropriate response to death. When a life has been lived completely honestly, completely successfully, or just completely, the correct response to death’s perfect punctuation...
View ArticleTheroux, Paul -- “D is for Death,” Hockney’s Alphabet (1991) [ed. Stephen...
Death is an endless night so awful to contemplate that it can make us love life and value it with such passion that it may be the ultimate cause of all joy and all art. Paul Theroux (b. 1941) American...
View ArticleBrowning, Elizabeth Barrett -- “De Profundis,” # 23 (1840)
I praise Thee while my days go on; I love Thee while my days go on! Through dark and dearth, through fire and frost, With emptied arms and treasure lost, I thank Thee while my days go on. Elizabeth...
View ArticleDante Alighieri -- The Divine Comedy [Divina Commedia], Book 1 “Inferno,”...
This said, the thief lifted his hands on high, Making the figs with both his thumbs, and shrieking: “The fico for Thee, God! take that, say I!” At once I liked the snakes; for one came sneaking About...
View ArticleKesey, Ken -- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Part 3 (1962)
You have to laugh at the things that hurt you just to keep yourself in balance, just to keep the world from running you plumb crazy. Ken Kesey (1935-2001) American novelist, essayist, countercultural...
View ArticleChesterton, Gilbert Keith -- “Our Birthday,” G. K.’s Weekly (1935-03-21)
The first fact about the celebration of a birthday is that it is a way of affirming defiantly, and even flamboyantly, that it is a good thing to be alive. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) English...
View ArticleByron, George Gordon, Lord -- “Prometheus,” st. 3, ll. 49-59 (1816)
And Man in portions can foresee His own funereal destiny; His wretchedness, and his resistance, And his sad unallied existence: To which his Spirit may oppose Itself — and equal to all woes, And a firm...
View ArticleMillay, Edna St. Vincent -- “The Penitent”, st. 3, A Few Figs from Thistles...
So up I got in anger, And took a book I had, And put a ribbon on my hair To please a passing lad. And, “One thing there’s no getting by — I’ve been a wicked girl.” said I; “But if I can’t be sorry,...
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