100+ Powerful Death Quotes by Mark Twain – Wisdom on Life & Mortality

“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

“To live forever, you must first learn to die without fear.”

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

“Dying is easy; it's living that scares me every day.”

“I’ve survived every single day so far—death doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.”

“If you are going to go through hell, keep going.”

“Man is the only animal that blushes—or needs to.”

“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.”

“When your end comes, don’t whisper, ‘Oh no,’ say ‘Oh well.’”

“I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I don't know.”

“After all these years, I can’t tell whether I’m a writer who likes to fish or a fisherman who likes to write.”

“Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

“I didn’t invent everything, but I did invent the word ‘bloviate’—and death hasn’t caught me yet.”

“I am not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

“Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

“I saw that the world is governed by absolutely perfect fools—and very busy they are.”

“Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.”

“I’ve told you all this before, but you never listen.”

“The worst loneliness is not being comfortable with yourself.”

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”

“When in doubt, tell the truth—it will confound your enemies.”

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

“Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile.”

“All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.”

“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”

“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”

“A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.”

“In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain.”

“Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.”

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

“If there is a heaven, it will be for the other fellows.”

“I wouldn’t go to heaven unless they had a library.”

“Heaven for climate, hell for company.”

“I believe in an afterlife, because how else would ghosts get their start?”

“If I go to heaven, I’d like to arrive just ahead of my wife so I can close the gate behind me.”

“They say the afterlife is full of harps and halos. I prefer jazz and cigars.”

“I don’t know what happens after death, but I suspect the paperwork continues.”

“God created man in His own image, and man, being a gentleman, returned the favor.”

“Eternity is a long time—especially near the end.”

“I don’t mind dying. I just don’t want to be there when it happens—and definitely not in line for judgment.”

“If I meet St. Peter, I’ll ask him if he really denied Christ three times before breakfast.”

“Heaven sounds boring. I’d rather spend eternity laughing in good company—even if it’s in hell.”

“A classic is something everyone wants to have read and nobody wants to read.”

“Fiction is harder than nonfiction because fiction has to be believable.”

“The pen is mightier than the sword, especially when the sword is in the hands of a bureaucrat.”

“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.”

“Books are humanity in print.”

“A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.”

“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.”

“I never wrote a word I didn’t mean.”

“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

“I publish, therefore I am.”

“Words are a game humans play against reality.”

“Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with.”

“When you lose someone you love, you gain an angel you know.”

“There are no real limits to grief—except those we put on ourselves.”

“We are all broken—that’s how the light gets in.”

“The sorrow is gone, but the memory remains.”

“To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”

“Loss is nothing else but change, and change is Nature's delight.”

“Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day.”

“Absence is a house so vast that inside you will pass through its walls and hang pictures on the air.”

“Memory is a magic box with no bottom.”

“The pain passes, but the beauty remains.”

“Grief is the price we pay for love.”

“Time is a river, and we are its leaves, floating toward the sea.”

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift—hence the name 'present.'”

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.”

“The years teach much which the days never know.”

“Life consists of a few short stages, most of which are uncomfortable.”

“The older I get, the more I realize how little I know.”

“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

“The past is a train wreck; the future is a fog.”

“Life is not measured in years, but in moments that take your breath away.”

“Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not.”

“Youth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children.”

“The days of our years are threescore years and ten; but if we are lucky, four score—and then we complain.”

“Death is as unavoidable as taxes, and considerably more final.”

“No man ever died of old age; they just forgot to breathe.”

“Every man dies. Not every man truly lives.”

“The grave is a place where even the wicked cease from troubling.”

“Death is the solution to all problems. No man—no problem.”

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”

“The only way to avoid death is to never be born.”

“Death doesn’t frighten me; it’s the paperwork I dread.”

“Eventually, all stories end in silence.”

“One of these days, I shall surprise everybody by not dying.”

“Death is nature’s way of saying, ‘Your table is ready.’”

“It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog—and eventually, the dog still dies.”

“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.”

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”

“Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.”

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”

“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.”

“Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.”

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”

“Live in the sunshine. Swim the sea. Drink the wild air.”

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

“The two most effective therapies are pets and children.”

“Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand.”

“Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.”

“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.”

“When tragedy strikes, laugh anyway. It confuses the enemy.”

“I can live for two months on a good compliment.”

“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”

“Subtlety may be defined as saying things which others can understand, and not saying things which they can’t.”

“Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”

“The lack of money is the root of all evil.”

“I am different from Peter the Great only in one thing—I have never permitted myself to cut a hole in the head of anyone who disagreed with me.”

“Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”

“When in doubt, exaggerate. That’s the most fun.”