End Of Life Quotes

“There were differences between memories and dreams. He had only dreams of things he had wanted to do, while Lespere had memories of things done and accomplished. And this knowledge began to pull Hollis apart, with a slow, quivering precision.”
― Ray Bradbury, The Illustrated Man

“This striving to help save the world a little bit, to push it just a bit farther into the right—this action was the only thing that sustained her during the hard times [when] only her purposeful life propped her up from total collapse, and she thought how strange that she had taught the morality play Everyman all those years but didn’t fully understand its central lesson or how true it was: We are our good deeds, and they alone will come with us into the afterlife.”
― Ray Smith, The Magnolia That Bloomed Unseen

“Life begins like a dream, becomes a little real, and ends like a dream.”
― Michael Bassey Johnson, The Oneironaut’s Diary

“When your life flashes before your eyes at the end, make sure it's a good movie you're watching.”
― Stewart Stafford

“I leaned forward and pressed Muriel's tip to his chest...
His eyes met mine, and a single tear ran down his cheek. 'All I ever wanted was you.'
'I know,' I replied, and pushed the sword in up to the hilt.”
― Andrew Shvarts, War of the Bastards

“Ted," he said, "when all this started, I asked myself, 'Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?" I decided I'm going to live-or at least try to live-the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure.”
― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie

“The language of loss and the language of hope may, at times, come into conflict as we face end-of-life issues.”
― Bill Holmes, Thoughts from the Bedside: From Medicine to Chaplaincy and Beyond

“He'd been in the yard long enough to understand when he could afford to face into the breeze and when he'd do better to bend in the hurricane.”
― Stephen King, The Green Mile

“Suicide is the punctuation mark at the end of many artistic careers.”
― Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut

“Death is not the end of life but the end of suffering and the beginning of an endless eternal life.”
― Debasish Mridha

“Even at the very end of life, healing a relationship can transform the history of a family. A relationship that is complete need not end; in this context, complete means there is nothing left unsaid or undone. When a dying person and a loved one come to feel complete between themselves, time together tends to be as full of joy and loving affection as sadness.”
― Ira Byock, Dying Well: Peace and Possibilities at the End of Life

“You knew when you saw those eyes he was going to die soon. There was no sign of life in his flesh, just the barest trace of what had once been a life. His body was like a dilapidated old house from which all the fixtures and fittings had been removed, awaiting its final demolition. Around the dry lips clumps of whiskers sprouted like weeds. So, I thought, even after so much of a man's life force has been lost, his beard continues to grow.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

“Şimdi ırgat, Onega Gölü'nün kıyısında, suyun ve toprağın kıyısında dikilmekteydi. Yaşamının sonuna vardığını hissetmişti; bundan sonra da var olunabilirdi ama evvelce duyulmamış bir haber gelmezdi artık -ne mutluluğa, ne yoksulluğa dair. Yüreği her ikisinin de sınırlarını biliyordu.
(Lobskaya Dağı / Muhteşem Vahşi Dünya)”
― Andrei Platonov, The Fierce and Beautiful World

“If your parents are getting old and you don't know how to bring up the topic of what to do with all the stuff, I would suggest you pay them a visit, sit down, and ask some of the following questions in a gentle way:

"You have many nice things, have you thought about what you want to do with it all later on?"
"Do you enjoy having all this stuff?"
"Could life be easier and less tiring if we got rid of some of this stuff that you have collected over the years?"
"Is there anything we can do together in a slow way so that there won't be too many things to handle later?”
― Margareta Magnusson, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter

“We need to reframe end-of-life conversations as acts of love.”
― Judith Henry, The Dutiful Daughter's Guide to Caregiving: A Practical Memoir

“I don’t envy her for it. The thing about making it to old age is that not everyone else will. That means you get to sit back and watch the world slip away from you, one tragedy at a time.”
― Gwendolyn Kiste, Reluctant Immortals

“I certainly do not believe that life is so valuable it must be prolonged at all costs. You who are of the opposite opinion will die nonetheless, even if your life has been prolonged by perverse acts and abominations. Therefore, let each take the following to be the soul's greatest remedy: Among all the gifts which nature has bestowed on man none surpass a timely death, and the best thing is that anyone can procure it for himself.”
― Harald Voetmann, Awake

“...what predicts fulfillment at the end of life?

..."Engagement," he said instantly. "Maintaining engagement with the world."

..."When we think about older people who are vital, it's often because they're still thinking and the world and the future. They're keeping up with current events. They're excited to tell you about the book they've read. They're thrilled about the way the garden is coming in this year. They're engaged."

Robert Waldinger with BBH”
― Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife

“The end is limited
to our own understanding.”
― Laura Chouette

“A broken cloud of small birds can't make up its mind which tree to land in. First they fly to one, then the other, then back again. Like me, they are vagrant, having no focus. And the world is new again, and I feel clean and happy that nearly every morning for the last sixty-odd years I have popped into the world for a while and at the end of the day popped out again, and eventually the day will come when my song will end and that is all fine. I don't need to do anything, I don't need to be Sisyphus rolling his stone. I can be happy, just watching and listening and tasting the air without thinking, without doing. My beard is white, through sun or years; my head as smooth as a river stone. My autumn has come and I'm ripening - how sweet that is! How sweet a flower I'll try to be.”
― Marc Hamer, Seed to Dust: A Gardener's Story

“Consider how the greatest things ever done on earth have been done by little and little—little agents, little persons, and little things. How was the wall restored around Jerusalem? By each man, whether his house was an old palace or the rudest cabin, building the breach before his own door. How was the soil of the New World redeemed from gloomy forests? By each sturdy emigrant cultivating the patch round his own log cabin. How have the greatest battles been won? Not by the generals who got their breasts blazoned with stars, and their brows crowned with honours; but by the rank and file—every man holding his own post, and ready to die on the battle-field. They won the victory! It was achieved by the blood and courage of the many; and I say, if the world is ever to be conquered for our Lord, it is not by ministers, nor by office-bearers, nor by the great, and noble, and mighty; but by every man and woman, every member of Christ's body, being a working member; doing their own work; filling their own sphere; holding their own post; and saying to Jesus, ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ And, indeed, when all is done, I venture to say of the busiest man that, when he lies on a dying bed, and grim death stands over him, his won't be the pleasant reflection, ‘How much have I done?’ but rather the regretful thought, ‘How much have I left undone? how many more sinners might I have warned; how many more wretched might I have blessed; how many more naked might I have clothed; how many more poor might I have fed; how many in hell may be cursing my want of faithfulness; how few in heaven are blessing God for my Christian, kind fidelity!’ Ah, the best of us will be thankful to be taken to glory, not as profitable servants, but as sinners saved.”
― Thomas Guthrie, The Way To Life: Sermons

“Thoughts On My End by Stewart Stafford

My last moments slip away,
On which day, at what time?
Snow chilling bones faster?
Sweat in blinding sunshine?

Halloween, Xmas or Easter?
Evening or just after dawn?
Pass away on my birthday?
Gifts, mass cards all drawn?

Will it be in long, slow agony?
Or mercifully fast and painless?
What will my drug of choice be?
Will I be conscious or brainless?

Who will be at my bedside?
Many or no one, who can say?
Kind words or total silence?
I’ll hear and be on my way.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“She’d been right about this death business. Unforeseen calamities had been in store for them. But her anger was dissipating, replaced by a staggering sense of defeat. For they had not properly celebrated the life of Haley Chan. Had not properly said goodbye with tenderness and love.”
― Kimberly Young, In the Event of Death

“Darkened Light by Stewart Stafford

Ephemeral life fading,
As a ground shadow,
The cat in the shade,
The sun's arm draped.

Pose for a photograph,
Thousand-yard stare,
In denial of expiration,
That bodily eviction.

Take a breather inside,
Too drained for more,
Crash and burn out,
Let quietus wash over.

© Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.”
― Stewart Stafford

“When you come to the end of your life, you return to the only real agenda you should have had from the beginning of your life: Your real lifelong agenda is not to live your short life well, but to seek a way with extraordinary effort to extend that short life!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan

“... I don't think we have souls. I think death is the end. A lot of people can't bear that idea, but I find it a little restful, really. I'm happy not to feel I'm going on. I don't really want to. I think this life has been plenty. It's just about all anybody could take, really. I'm cheerful about the feeling the end will come -- let it come.”
― Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Marjory Stoneman Douglas: Voice of the River

“He told her he was tired and didn't want any mechanical intervention. "No breathing tubes! No shocks, and no pushing on my chest. Just let me go." He was willing to try treatments that would make him feel better (comfort care), Rebecca says, such as wound care and pain management, as well as the treatments he was already getting.
But, he said, "If they are giving it to me just to give it to me, then forget about it."
At that point, Rebecca turned to her grandmother, who would be the ultimate decision maker should her grandfather become unable to make his own choices. "Well, darling," she said, "of course I would tell the doctors to do everything possible to keep my husband alive." Rebecca was stunned. She'd just had a lovely, candid, and specific discussion with her grandfather about his wishes. Hadn't her grandmother heard what he'd said?
She then asked her grandmother to tell her what she had heard her grandfather say, and her grandmother repeated his wishes but said she loved her husband too much to let him go. "If he is with me just one more day, it would be worth it to me," she told her granddaughter. It would be worth it to her even if he were
"hooked up to machines and not able to talk to me."
Rebecca then turned back to her grandfather and asked, "Did you just hear what Grandma said?" He said he did. She asked how he felt about her going against his wishes and requesting a feeding tube, ventilator, shocks, and other treatments he had said he did not want. "Is that okay with you?" she asked in disbelief.
Her grandfather said it was. "I am ready to go, but if it helps your grandmother to feel that she did everything possible for me, even if it is because she doesn't want me to go, that is okay. She is the one who has to go on living with her decision. If this is what she wants, then this is what I want because I love her."
Rebecca realized in that moment that her grandfather's wishes were being honored; above all else, he wanted a death that his wife could live with.”
― BJ Miller

“The day your life ends usually starts like any other day.”
― Daniel Ruczko, Pieces of a Broken Mind

“So far, the end of the world has come only for the dead.”
― Tamerlan Kuzgov

“The book closing on the days and the years and every slowly released hug and quick kiss to the top of the head and all the other acts and moments tabulated and tallied for the binding of the seal inalterable.”
― Casey Fisher, The Subtle Cause