Remembrance of death teaches a human being to choose from his upcoming tasks ones that are always finished. And these tasks are the most necessary.
They say that the human being has an especially strong desire to stay alive. That is fair. But the greatest part of this desire is cultivated by people. By his nature, a human being only cares about saving his life to the extent that is within his means. The moment he feels that he lacks the means, he calms down and stops suffering in vain. The means of obedience is given us by nature itself. Savages, as well as animals, do not struggle against death and endure it without complaining. When this means is lost, however, another one is established, which comes from reason, but few make use of it.
— Rousseau
How soon you must die! And yet you still cannot free yourself from pretense and passions, cannot detach yourself from the prejudice of thinking that the external material world can harm a human being, cannot be gentle with everyone.
— Marcus Aurelius
A wise person thinks more about life than about death.
— Spinoza
For the soul there is no death, and therefore the one who leads a spiritual life is free from death.
If you want to get used to contemplating death without fear, try to vividly imagine and see yourself in the shoes of the people who were attached to life with all their strength. They thought that death befell them prematurely. Meanwhile, those who had lived the most, and who had buried many, had ultimately died as well. How short is this span of time, capable of fitting so much sorrow and evil, and how fragile is the vessel of life!
Is this brief moment worth talking about? Think—an eternity lies behind you, an eternity lies ahead. Between these two abysses, what difference is it to you if you live three days or three centuries?
— Marcus Aurelius
Clutter hinders freedom, and the cause of clutter is putting things off. To be ready means to know how to finish. Nothing is complete until it is done. Tasks which we leave behind us will consequently rise again before us and get in our way. Let every day of ours deal with what concerns it, let it clear its tasks, protecting the day ahead, and then we will always be ready. To know how to be ready in essence means to know how to die.
— Amiel
People often say: “It’s not worth doing now, I’m going to die soon.” Everything that is not worth doing when you are about to die was also not worth doing at any other time. But there is something that is always worth doing, and the closer you are to death, the more necessary it is: the work of the soul—to grow and to develop your soul.
Whenever you are faced with making the choice between this or that course of action, ask yourself how you would act if you knew that you would die by nightfall, and moreover, if no one would ever find out about what you did.
Death teaches people the skill of finishing their tasks. Of all the tasks there is only one kind that is always wholly finished: the tasks of love, which seek no reward.
