George Bernard Shaw had much to say on death and the right way people should lead their lives. He was philosophical about death, knowing that it was beyond his control.
What he could do was enjoy his life and try to make a positive contribution to society. Here are some of our favourite George Bernard Shaw quotes on death.
As long as I have a want, I have a reason for living. Satisfaction is death.
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It’s easier to replace a dead man than a good picture.
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I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I love. I rejoice in life for its own sake.
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Life levels all men. Death reveals the eminent.
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Most people go to their grave with their music inside them.
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Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.
Old men are dangerous: it doesn’t matter to them what is going to happen to the world.
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Reminiscences make one feel so deliciously aged and sad.
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Every man over forty is a scoundrel.
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Then the violet coffin moved again and went in feet first. And behold! The feet burst miraculously into streaming ribbons of garnet coloured lovely flame, smokeless and eager, like pentecostal tongues, and as the whole coffin passed in it sprang into flame all over; and my mother became that beautiful fire.
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Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out. That is what it is for. Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself.
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Those who do not know how to live must make a merit of dying.You may remember that on earth—though of course we never confessed it—the death of anyone we knew, even those we liked best, was always mingled with a certain satisfaction at being finally done with them.
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Dying is a troublesome business: there is pain to be suffered, and it wrings one’s heart; but death is a splendid thing—a warfare accomplished, a beginning all over again, a triumph. You can always see that in their faces.
Read about George Bernard Shaw’s life and career
