Roland Barthes Quotes

All those young photographers who are at work in the world, determined upon the capture of actuality, do not know that they are agents of Death.

Faith is a great thing, and really religious people would like us to believe that faith and knowing are the same thing, but I don't believe that myself. Because there are too many different ideas on the subject. What we know is this: When we die, one of two things happens. Either our souls and thoughts somehow survive the experience of dying or they don't. If they do, that opens up every possibility you could think of. If they don't, it's just blotto. The end.

In the course of history many more people have died for their drink and their dope than have died for their religion or their country.

It's not easy to live every moment wholly aware of death. It's like trying to stare the sun in the face: you can stand only so much of it. Because we cannot live frozen in fear, we generate methods to soften death's terror. We project ourselves into the future through our children; we grow rich, famous, ever larger; we develop compulsive protective rituals; or we embrace an impregnable belief in an ultimate rescuer.

We're reaching for death on the end of a candle We're trying for something that's already found us

‎ When a person is born we rejoice, and when they're married we jubilate, but when they die we try to pretend nothing has happened.

I never thought about heaven per se. I think when you're dead, you're dead. If anything happens after that, you just hope you don't go to hell.

Death is just a new beginning…at least in my religion. And extreme inebriation seriously helps. (Syn)

The dead are silent because they live, just as we chatter so loudly to try to make ourselves forget that we are dying. Their silence is really their call to me, the assurance of their immortal love for me.

I believe in life after death.

You'll find it-when you try to die- The Easier to let go- For recollecting such as went- You could not spare-you know.

Everybody dies. There's nothing you can do about it. Whether you eat six almonds a day. Whether or not you believe in God.

I just look at death as not a threat. It's inevitable, and I have an assurance of eternal life.

What am I supposed to say to an atheist when he sneezes, ah, when you die nothing happens.

Better try to stay wide awake, or you might end up found dead by the lake.

We can have our own choices in sex partners, but you cannot avoid birth and death. It's the content of all religion and art. We familiarize them and if we're more honest, we'd be far more relaxed about them.

Death is robbed of much of its terror for the true believer.

We each cope differently with the specter of our deaths. Some people deny it. Some pray. Some numb themselves with tequila. I was tempted to do a little of each of those things. But I think we are supposed to try to face it straightforwardly, armed with nothing but courage.

And I said to myself that unless you conceive Death to be a violent guerrilla and kidnaper who snatches those you love, and if you are not cowardly and cannot submit to such terrorism as civilized people now do in every department of life, you must pursue and inquire and explore every possibility and seek everywhere and try everything.

There are certain things that we cannot understand, like why we pray five times a day, for example. But the fact that we choose to pray is understandable.

Death is a withdrawal of consciousness. It's like taking attention from here and putting it there.

The gods, the immortals, were the inventors of death and corruption; yet with one or two notable exceptions they have lacked the courage to try their invention out on themselves.

I believe that the black-and-white photograph, or rather the gray zones in the black-and-white photograph, stand for this territory that is located between life and death.

They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly. No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried. Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked. They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone." And what difference does that make?

Nature wants us to enjoy life to the full and die without giving it a second thought; Christianity wants the opposite.