Leon Kass Quotes

To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death; what is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is to know that one is immortal.

We all have to die some day. Not very many immortals have shown up in this world.

We are made to be immortal, and yet we die. It's horrible, it can't be taken seriously

For me, the first fact of human existence is the human body. But if you embrace the reality of the human body, you embrace mortality, and that is a very difficult thing for anything to do because the self-conscious mind cannot imagine non-existence. It's impossible to do.

The elimination of the fear of death transforms the individual's way of being in the world.

Our bodies will be recycled one way or another, but what about our ideas and minds and characters? Primordial soup? The bourne from which no traveller returns? Interesting and exciting.

The fear of death comes from limited awareness.

We do not know what to do with this short life, yet we want another which will be eternal.

The great problem of humanity is life and death. Every person dreams of becoming invisible one day.

It is not dying, but living, that is a preparation for Death.

The only greatness for man is immortality.

Death is simply a break in our linear stream of consciousness.

The poet does not fear death, not because he believes in the fantasy of heroes, but because death constantly visits his thoughts and is thus an image of a serene dialogue.

To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead.

Why do people embrace God? In my opinion, belief in God and an afterlife is a necessary extension of man's need to feel that this life does not end with what we call death.

I don't fear death. I'm not obsessed with it the way everybody else seems to be.

I've always been slightly preoccupied with death or whatever those kind of silly big questions people will tell you to not spend your time worrying about.

In the last analysis, it is our conception of death which decides our answers to all the questions that life puts to us.

To me death is not a fearful thing. It's living that's cursed.

However and wherever we are, we must live as if we will never die.

Perhaps one reason for the falling-off of belief in a continuance of conscious existence is to be found in the quality of life that most of us lead. There is not much in it with which, in any kind of reason, one can associate the idea of immortality.

Mortality defines the human condition.

We can imagine our bodies being destroyed, our brains ceasing to function, our bones turning to dust, but it is harder - some would say impossible - to imagine the end of our very existence.

Should I perchance still feel after my death, I would no longer have any doubt, but I would most certainly give the lie to anyone asserting before me that I was dead.

I do fear death. But what I actually fear is not dying. I mean, true, it will be sad. But I know that there is a better place waiting for me.