21 KiB
Favorite "rejection of death" quotes
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Author: u/None *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/3ezioe/favorite_rejection_of_death_quotes/
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Score: 40
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Created: 2015-07-29T03:42:26
Post:
Today I lost a loved one. It might seem weird, and maybe I'm a weird person, but what I'd really love to read right now are your favorite quotes about the fight against death. Why death is something to struggle against, how science promises us the tools to defeat it, really anything that reminds the reader that death isn't something that needs to be blindly accepted. To start things off I'll post one of mine. It doesn't specifically mention death, but I feel it's appropriate:
White Hat: So, has this sickness opened you up to looking for answers beyond science?
Cueball: ...no, not really.
[Cueball turns to face White Hat.]
Cueball: We've groped for comfort before the slings and arrows of [mis]fortune for millennia, and I begrudge nobody their sources of solace.
Cueball: But Science provides tools.
Cueball: $100 billion a year in scientific studies and medical R&D has bought us some pretty damn powerful slings and arrows of our own.
Cueball: This world is amazing, and I'm going to live to experience more of it thanks to people who refused to gracefully accept the ineffability of reality.
Cueball: I find my courage where I can, but I take my weapons from science.
Cueball: Because they work, bitches.
Comments:
u/traverseda [+28] With dread but cautious optimism (22 minutes later)
http://blog.jaibot.com/500-million-but-not-a-single-one-more/
u/DCarrier [+4] (4 hours later)
u/Transfuturist [+1] Carthago delenda est. (2 days later)
Oh good, it's on youtube now.
I just wish there were a better recording. The fuzz isn't bad, it gives it a vintage feel, but the buzz is unpleasant.
u/Nevereatcars [+26] The Greatest Is Behind (2 hours later)
"Death is not a God, implacable and omnipotent. It is a physical disease. It will fall to a physical cure."
u/None [+1] (17 hours later)
That's wonderful. To whom do I attribute it when I inevitably quote it somewhere?
u/Nevereatcars [+2] The Greatest Is Behind (18 hours later)
I don't know :(
u/DCarrier [+25] (4 hours later)
That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.
-- H. P. Lovecraft
It probably wasn't intended to be a positive quote, but it perfectly expresses the idea behind cryonics.
"YOU'RE ONLY PUTTING OFF THE INEVITABLE, he said."
"That's what being alive is all about."
-- Terry Pratchett
u/Meneth32 [+8] (8 hours later)
The Lovecraft quote reminds me of a variation from Caleum Est Conterrens:
For strange aeons had come to pass, and death itself had indeed finally died, and that which the long dead would have called the real was strange, and the living lived only because of the benevolent grace of an eternal lie.
Not really the sort of quote you were looking for, I know.
u/lawnmowerlatte [+23] (8 hours later)
HPMOR at its finest:
Within his mind, Harry discarded the last remnants of the peace of the phoenix, put aside the calm, the dreamlike state, remembered instead Fawkes's piercing cry, and roused himself for battle. Called upon all the pieces and elements of himself to awaken. Raised up within himself all the strength that the Patronus Charm could ever draw upon, to put himself into the right frame of mind for the final warm and happy thought; remembered all bright things.
The books his father had bought him.
Mum's smile when Harry had handmade her a mother's day card, an elaborate thing that had used half a pound of spare electronics parts from the garage to flash lights and beep a little tune, and had taken him three days to make.
Professor McGonagall telling him that his parents had died well, protecting him. As they had.
Realizing that Hermione was keeping up with him and even running faster, that they could be true rivals and friends.
Coaxing Draco out of the darkness, watching him slowly move toward the light.
Neville and Seamus and Lavender and Dean and everyone else who looked up to him, everyone that he would have fought to protect if anything threatened Hogwarts.
Everything that made life worth living.
His wand rose into the starting position for the Patronus Charm.
Harry thought of the stars, the image that had almost held off the Dementor even without a Patronus. Only this time, Harry added the missing ingredient, he'd never truly seen it but he'd seen the pictures and the video. The Earth, blazing blue and white with reflected sunlight as it hung in space, amid the black void and the brilliant points of light. It belonged there, within that image, because it was what gave everything else its meaning. The Earth was what made the stars significant, made them more than uncontrolled fusion reactions, because it was Earth that would someday colonize the galaxy, and fulfill the promise of the night sky.
Would they still be plagued by Dementors, the children's children's children, the distant descendants of humankind as they strode from star to star? No. Of course not. The Dementors were only little nuisances, paling into nothingness in the light of that promise; not unkillable, not invincible, not even close. You had to put up with little nuisances, if you were one of the lucky and unlucky few to be born on Earth; on Ancient Earth, as it would be remembered someday. That too was part of what it meant to be alive, if you were one of the tiny handful of sentient beings born into the beginning of all things, before intelligent life had come fully into its power. That the much vaster future depended on what you did here, now, in the earliest days of dawn, when there was still so much darkness to be fought, and temporary nuisances like Dementors.
Mum and Dad, Hermione's friendship and Draco's journey, Neville and Seamus and Lavender and Dean, the blue sky and brilliant Sun and all bright things, the Earth, the stars, the promise, everything humanity was and everything it would become...
On the wand, Harry's fingers moved into their starting positions; he was ready, now, to think the right sort of warm and happy thought.
And Harry's eyes stared directly at that which lay beneath the tattered cloak, looked straight at that which had been named Dementor. The void, the emptiness, the hole in the universe, the absence of color and space, the open drain through which warmth poured out of the world.
The fear it exuded stole away all happy thoughts, its closeness drained your power and strength, its kiss would destroy everything that you were.
I know you now, Harry thought as his wand twitched once, twice, thrice and four times, as his fingers slid exactly the right distances, I comprehend your nature, you symbolize Death, through some law of magic you are a shadow that Death casts into the world.
And Death is not something I will ever embrace.
It is only a childish thing, that the human species has not yet outgrown.
And someday...
We'll get over it...
And people won't have to say goodbye any more...
The wand rose up and leveled straight at the Dementor.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
The thought exploded from him like a breaking dam, surged down his arm into his wand, burst from it as blazing white light. Light that became corporeal, took on shape and substance.
A figure with two arms, two legs, and a head, standing upright; the animal Homo sapiens, the shape of a human being.
Glowing brighter and brighter as Harry poured all his strength into his spell, blazing with incandescent light brighter than the fading sunset, the Aurors and Professor Quirrell shielding their eyes in shock -
And someday when the descendants of humanity have spread from star to star, they won't tell the children about the history of Ancient Earth until they're old enough to bear it; and when they learn they'll weep to hear that such a thing as Death had ever once existed!
The figure of a human shone more brilliant now than the noonday Sun, so radiant that Harry could feel the warmth of it on his skin; and Harry sent out all his defiance at the shadow of Death, opening all the floodgates inside him to make that bright shape blaze even brighter and yet brighter.
You are not invincible, and someday the human species will end you.
I will end you if I can, by the power of mind and magic and science.
I won't cower in fear of Death, not while I have a chance of winning.
I won't let Death touch me, I won't let Death touch the ones I love.
And even if you do end me before I end you,
Another will take my place, and another,
Until the wound in the world is healed at last...
Harry lowered his wand, and the bright figure of a human faded away.
Slowly, he exhaled.
Like waking up from a dream, like opening his eyes after sleep, Harry's gaze moved away from the cage, he looked around and saw that everyone was staring at him.
Albus Dumbledore was staring at him.
Professor Quirrell was staring at him.
The Auror trio was staring at him.
They were all looking at him like they'd just seen him destroy a Dementor.
The tattered cloak lay empty within the cage.
-HPMOR, chapter 45
u/None [+10] (12 hours later)
A figure with two arms, two legs, and a head, standing upright; the animal Homo sapiens, the shape of a human being.
I can't help but now think: ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!
u/MaxIsAlwaysRight [+6] (13 hours later)
It's funny, but shonen anime is actually a great source for these kinds of quotes, as their plots and themes frequently revolve around refusal to accept the status quo, and the power of Human Intellect And Will to overcome just about any challenge, no matter how impossible.
Literally every popular quote from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann can be applied here.
The tomorrow we're trying to reach is...not a tomorrow you've decided on! We... by ourselves... choose our tomorrow from the infinite universes! We will fight through it... we will fight through it and protect the universe!
u/None [+6] (17 hours later)
Nia: "That is what happens when someone dies. People suffer. And yet here you are, saying two grieving parties should hurt each other! Don't you think there might be something wrong with that?!"
u/buckykat [+4] (15 hours later)
You can't do all that.
Just watch us!
u/None [+2] (16 hours later)
Mark my words: this drill will open a hole in the universe! And that hole will be a path for those who will follow!
The dreams of those who have fallen, the hopes of those to come -- we weave those two sets of dreams together into a double helix, DRILLING A PATH TOWARDS TOMORROW!
And that's Tengen Toppa! That's Gurren Lagann! My drill is the drill THAT CREATES THE HEAVENS!
u/None [+6] (16 hours later)
Do you have any idea how hard I'm holding back from spamming TTGL quotes in this thread? Because it's exactly the restraint I show in not spamming TTGL quotes all the time everywhere.
Like, this is basically why shounen anime is actually fun to watch: I can understand what motivates those characters.
u/Nevereatcars [+3] The Greatest Is Behind (18 hours later)
Release the flood.
u/None [+1] (a day later)
God, please no. I'm out of plasma pistol ammunition.
u/None [+4] (16 hours later)
Oh God, how did I forget this one?
...
GIGA! DRILL! BREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAKEEEEERRR!!!!!!
As noted on TVTropes, when he speaks that first line, he's already dead. He's willing himself back to life to pull off that victory.
u/retsotrembla [+5] (11 hours later)
Thank you. That was the quote I was searching for.
u/None [+25] (10 hours later)
Eliezer Yudkowsky's email message after the death of his brother. Some quotes:
I used to say: "I have four living grandparents and I intend to have four living grandparents when the last star in the Milky Way burns out." I still have four living grandparents, but I don't think I'll be saying that any more. Even if we make it to and through the Singularity, it will be too late. One of the people I love won't be there. The universe has a surprising ability to stab you through the heart from somewhere you weren't looking. Of all the people I had to protect, I never thought that Yehuda might be one of them. Yehuda was born July 11, 1985. He was nineteen years old when he died.
Yehuda's death is the first time I ever lost someone close enough for it to hurt. So now I've seen the face of the enemy. Now I understand, a little better, the price of half a second. I don't understand it well, because the human brain has a pattern built into it. We do not grieve forever, but move on. We mourn for a few days and then continue with our lives. Such underreaction poorly equips us to comprehend Yehuda's death. Nineteen years, 7053 days, of life and memory annihilated. A thousand years, or a million millennia, or a forever, of future life lost. The sun should have dimmed when Yehuda died, and a chill wind blown in every place that sentient beings gather, to tell us that our number was diminished by one. But the sun did not dim, because we do not live in that sensible a universe. Even if the sun did dim whenever someone died, it wouldn't be noticeable except as a continuous flickering. Soon everyone would get used to it, and they would no longer notice the flickering of the sun.
Death is not a distant dream, not a terrible tragedy that happens to someone else like the stories you read in newspapers. One day you'll get a phone call, like I got a phone call, and the possibility that seemed distant will become reality. You will mourn, and finish mourning, and go on with your life, and then one day you'll get another phone call. That is the fate this world has in store for you, unless you make a convulsive effort to change it.
When Michael Wilson heard the news, he said: "We shall have to work faster." Any similar condolences are welcome. Other condolences are not.
u/Transfuturist [+10] Carthago delenda est. (2 days later)
We shall have to work faster.
u/None [+36] (5 hours later)
“I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment.”
- Woody Allen
u/retsotrembla [+15] (2 hours later)
said Harry. "I want to live one more day. Tomorrow I will still want to live one more day. Therefore I want to live forever, proof by induction on the positive integers. If you don't want to die, it means you want to live forever. If you don't want to live forever, it means you want to die. You've got to do one or the other... I'm not getting through here, am I."
u/None [+13] (8 hours later)
Does "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas fit the bill?
u/None [+1] (10 hours later)
I thought it was written for Dylan Thomas' dying father?
u/TheRealEndfall [+8] System No. 6 (16 hours later)
Mors delenda est.
Not an arguement. Not a reason. A declaration of intent. Such as death deserves nothing more.
u/None [+2] (20 hours later)
Most badass answer in the thread.
u/Nevereatcars [+2] The Greatest Is Behind (18 hours later)
And for those of us who don't speak Latin?
u/thesteamboat [+9] (20 hours later)
This is a reference to Carthago delenda est or "Carthage must be destroyed."
The story goes that one prominent Roman orator ended all of his speeches with that phrase, leading to the third Punic war.
u/Nevereatcars [+1] The Greatest Is Behind (20 hours later)
Arigatou
u/trifith [+1] Man plans, god laughs. Like the ant and the grasshopper. (a day later)
I like this. I think this will be my new thing.
-- Mors delenda est.
u/chaosmosis [+1] and with strange aeons, even death may die (2 days later)
Is the grammar right?
u/None [+8] (20 hours later)
It is so much easier to attribute death some meaning or even positive qualities. It means that we don’t have to fight it or fear it, death is normal, good even and we can get back to our everyday routine. But the reality is 100% different. Death is not the mother of beauty. Death is the mother of worms, eating your rotting body. Death makes your life worth nothing. And it doesn’t matter if you leave your work behind – you won’t care, because there will be no you. Just like every dying pharaoh would trade all the gold and pyramids he owns for another day of life, every lethally sick person would give everything he owns for the cure, just to live one more day, just to breathe for a bit longer.
-Maria Konovalenko
u/None [+7] (17 hours later)
In Life's name and for Life's sake, I assert that I will employ the Art which is its gift in Life's service alone, rejecting all other usages. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so -- till Universe's end.
u/Nevereatcars [+1] The Greatest Is Behind (2 months later)
You know... I really fucking loved these books. I'm gonna see if I can find the rest of the series.
u/None [+3] (a day later)
"I don't want to die."
-- Asuka, End of Evangelion
Not a terribly clever or eloquent quote, I know, but it's really all in the delivery.
u/None [+3] (a day later)
u/chaosmosis [+2] and with strange aeons, even death may die (2 days later)
http://www.theonion.com/article/loved-ones-recall-local-mans-cowardly-battle-with--772
u/BadGoyWithAGun [+2] (15 hours later)
Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but I've yet to find such a quote that I actually enjoyed as opposed to coming off as infantile, impotent rage.
You guys, death is, like, really bad! And we're gradually getting better at postponing it!
u/MaxIsAlwaysRight [+2] (a day later)
You guys, death is, like, really bad!
It may seem infantile to you, but that's a complete reversal of what "most" people tend to believe.
u/None [+4] (a day later)
Nah. It's more a reversal of things people believe in believing, until they start lying to themselves to feel better when it's about to happen to them.
u/None [+1] (10 hours later)
Will attempt to post more later.
u/trifith [+1] Man plans, god laughs. Like the ant and the grasshopper. (10 hours later)
I came here, specifically to link to your comment in this thread.
u/None [+2] (12 hours later)
I'd actually been looking for what you said in addition to remembering there was some highly-upvoted thing there to recall.
u/ancientcampus [+1] juggling kittens (11 hours later)
My personal favorite is a little more double-edged:
"I reject your reality and substitute my own!"
-Adam Savage. (And, apparently, originally from the move "The Dungeonmaster")
u/IdiosyncraticLawyer [+1] (8 years later)
I made this up myself as a play on a line from Wreck-It Ralph, so here goes:
"I fear death, and that's good. I will never overcome my fear of death, and that's not bad. 'I fear death' are not the words of a coward but only those of a hero."