Quote#Death
We are human animals and thus fear death as animals do. The so-called…
Quote byRyūnosuke Akutagawa · 1892–1927
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: A Note to a Certain Old Friend (1927).
English (original)
We are human animals and thus fear death as animals do. The so-called “will to live” is nothing more than a different name for animal instinct. I am but one of these human animals, and when I observe my loss of interest in food and women, I realize I have gradually lost this animal instinct. Now I reside in a world of diseased nerves, as translucent as ice.
— Ryūnosuke Akutagawa
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A man sometimes devotes his life to a desire which he is not sure will ever be fulfilled. Those who laugh at this folly are, after all, no more than mere spectators of life.
Truly, human life is as ephemeral as dew and as brief as lightning.
Brighter from her disease she shines, As fire the precious gold refines. Thus when the silent grave becomes Pregnant with life as fruitful wombs; When the wide seas and spacious earth Resign us to our second birth;
But see! the pains begin to fly; Tho’ Venus bled she could not die: See the new phœnix point her eyes, And lovelier from her ashes rise.
'Tis the night—the night Of the grave's delight, And the warlocks are at their play! Ye think that without, The wild winds shout, But no, it is they—it is they!
