QuoteProject
What do you think has become of the young and old men? And what do you think has become of the women and children? They are alive and well somewhere, The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, And ceas'd the moment life appear'd. All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
Walt Whitman
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote reflects on the continuity of life and the idea that death is not an end, but a transition.

In this quote, Walt Whitman emphasizes the cyclical nature of life, suggesting that even in death there is an ongoing essence that transcends into life. He implies that death should not be feared but understood as a part of the larger experience of existence, revealing a deeper connection between all beings and the everlasting flow of life.

Themes

LifeDeathContinuityExistenceNature

In practice

Example use cases

In a eulogy celebrating someone's life, you might include this quote to highlight the belief in the continuation of the soul.

More from Walt Whitman

All music is is what awakes from you when you are reminded by the instruments.
Walt WhitmanRead
Did you, too, O friend, suppose democracy was only for elections, for politics, and for a party name? I say democracy is only of use there that it may pass on and come to its flower and fruit in manners, in the highest forms of interaction between people, and their beliefs - in religion, literature, colleges and schools- democracy in all public and private life.
Walt WhitmanRead
In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word.
Walt WhitmanRead
A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.
Walt WhitmanRead
Now, dearest comrade, lift me to your face,_x000D_ _x000D_ We must separate awhileHere! take from my lips this kiss._x000D_ _x000D_ Whoever you are, I give it especially to you;_x000D_ _x000D_ So long!And I hope we shall meet again.
Walt WhitmanRead
And whoever walks a furlong without sympathy walks to his own funeral drest in his shroud.
Walt WhitmanRead

Similar quotes

This is what is sad when one contemplates human life, that so many live out their lives in quiet lostness...they live, as it were, away from themselves and vanish like shadows. Their immortal souls are blown away, and they are not disquieted by the question of its immortality, because they are already disintegrated before they die.
Soren KierkegaardRead
To destroy a man is difficult, almost as difficult as to create one: it has not been easy, nor quick, but you Germans have succeeded. Here we are, docile under your gaze; from our side you have nothing more to fear; no acts of violence, no words of defiance, not even a look of judgment.
Primo LeviRead
Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood let alone believed by the masses.
PlatoRead
What are these fundamental principles, if they are not atoms?" "Stories. And they give me hope.
Neil GaimanRead
The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.
Alexis De TocquevilleRead
In the 1970s in black and Asian households up and down the country, there's a familiar story that when we saw a non-white person on TV we would call the rest of the family to the sitting room to have a look. The story that is less well known is what it was like to be that one black person on TV.
Lenny HenryRead

A little wisdom, now and then

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