Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies.
John DonneRead
One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the concept of death and the eternal nature of life beyond it.
John Donne's quote contemplates mortality and the afterlife, suggesting that death is merely a transition rather than an end. The imagery of a 'short sleep' indicates that life continues in a different form, and ultimately, death itself will be conquered, leading to a profound existence beyond the physical world.
Themes
DeathEternityLifeMortalityAfterlife
In practice
Example use cases
In a eulogy, you might use this quote to comfort the grieving by emphasizing the eternal nature of the soul.
More from John Donne
All quotes βReason is our soul's left hand, Faith her right, By these we reach divinity
John DonneRead
All occasions invite His mercies, and all times are His seasons.
John DonneRead
If poisonous minerals, and if that tree, Whose fruit threw death on else immortal us, If lecherous goats, if serpents envious Cannot be damned; alas; why should I be?
John DonneRead
Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John DonneRead
I call not that virginity a virtue, which resideth onely in the bodies integrity; much less if it be with a purpose of perpetually keeping it: for then it is a most inhumane vice. - But I call that Virginity a virtue which is willing and desirous to yield it self upon honest and lawfull terms, when just reason requireth; and until then, is kept with a modest chastity of body and mind.
John DonneRead
Similar quotes
Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the 'wall of separation between church and state,' therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society.
Thomas JeffersonRead
A country that demands moral perfection in its foreign policy will achieve neither perfection nor security.
Henry A. KissingerRead
We talk of lost ideals, but perhaps they are not lost, only changed; when our ideal for ourselves and for our children becomes limited to prosperity and comfort, we get these, very likely, for ourselves and for them, but we get no more.
Charlotte MasonRead
...in the decline of life shame and grief are of short duration; whether it be that we bear easily what we have borne long; or that, finding ourselves in age less regarded, we less regard others; or, that we look with slight regard upon afflictions to which we know that the hand of death is about to put an end.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead
Man is a simple being, and however rich, varied, and unfathomable he may be, the cycle of his situations is soon run through.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.
Ambrose BierceRead