QuoteProject
I don't want to be immortal through my works. I want to be immortal by not dying.
Woody Allen
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The speaker desires genuine immortality through living rather than through lasting achievements.

Woody Allen's quote reflects a deep philosophical stance on life and legacy. Instead of seeking immortality through the impact of his works, he expresses a more fundamental desire to exist perpetually, suggesting that true fulfillment lies in the simple act of living rather than the pursuit of posthumous recognition. This highlights a preference for the essence of life over the accolades associated with mortality and creative output.

Themes

ImmortalityLifeExistenceLegacyPhilosophy

In practice

Example use cases

During a discussion on the meaning of life at a philosophy club.

More from Woody Allen

I don't believe in an afterlife, but I'm taking an extra pair of underwear just in case.
Woody AllenRead
He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion... no, make that: he - he romanticized it all out of proportion. Yes. To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin.
Woody AllenRead
There are three rings involved with marriage. The engagement ring, the wedding ring, and the suffering.
Woody AllenRead
I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.
Woody AllenRead
I was in analysis. I was suicidal. As a matter of fact, I would have killed myself, but I was in analysis with a strict Freudian and if you kill yourself they make you pay for the sessions you miss.
Woody AllenRead
Sex without love is an empty experience, but as empty experiences go, it's one of the best.
Woody AllenRead

Similar quotes

Alcohol is barren. The words a man speaks in the night of drunkenness fade like the darkness itself at the coming of day.
Marguerite DurasRead
I believe that a guarantee of public access to government information is indispensable in the long run for any democratic society.... if officials make public only what they want citizens to know, then publicity becomes a sham and accountability meaningless.
Sissela BokRead
Service is the measure of greatness; it always has been true; it is true today, and it always will be true, that he is greatest who does the most of good. Nearly all of our controversies and combats grow out of the fact that we are trying to get something from each other--there will be peace when our aim is to do something for each other. The human measure of a human life is its income; the divine measure of a life is its outgo, its overflow--its contribution to the welfare of all.
William Jennings BryanRead
To recommend a monarchy on account of the prosperity it gives the provinces seems to me like recommending that a man should have liberty to treat his children as slaves, if at the same time he treats his slaves with reasonable consideration.
Robert GravesRead
We have so exalted a notion of the human soul that we cannot bear to be despised, or even not to be esteemed by it. Man, in fact, places all his happiness in this esteem.
Blaise PascalRead
You walk on corpses, beauty, undismayed.
Charles BaudelaireRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.