It must be so--Plato, thou reasonest well!--
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing read more

It must be so--Plato, thou reasonest well!--
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?
Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror,
O falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
'Tis the divinity that stirs within us;
'Tis heaven itself, that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.

No one could ever meet death for his country without the hope of
immortality.
[Lat., Nemo unquam sine read more

No one could ever meet death for his country without the hope of
immortality.
[Lat., Nemo unquam sine magna spe immortalitatatis se pro patria
offerret ad mortem.]

To desire immortality is to desire the eternal perpetuation of a great mistake

To desire immortality is to desire the eternal perpetuation of a great mistake

All men think all men mortal, but themselves. If there is a God, man's immortality is certain. If not, Immortality read more

All men think all men mortal, but themselves. If there is a God, man's immortality is certain. If not, Immortality would not be worth having.

No, no! The energy of life may be
Kept on after the grave, but not begun;
And read more

No, no! The energy of life may be
Kept on after the grave, but not begun;
And he who flagg'd not in the earthly strife,
From strength to strength advancing--only he
His soul well-knit, and all his battles won,
Mounts, and that hardly, to eternal life.

'Tis immortality to die aspiring,
As if a man were taken quick to heaven.

'Tis immortality to die aspiring,
As if a man were taken quick to heaven.

Immortal mortals, mortal immortals, one living the others death and dying the others life.

Immortal mortals, mortal immortals, one living the others death and dying the others life.

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.

If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.

All men think all men mortal, but themselves.

All men think all men mortal, but themselves.