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.

If I stoop
Into a dark tremendous sea of cloud,
It is but for a time; I read more

If I stoop
Into a dark tremendous sea of cloud,
It is but for a time; I press God's lamp
Close to my breast; its splendor soon or late
Will pierce the gloom; I shall emerge one day.

Thus God's children are immorall whiles their
Father hath anything for them to do on earth.

Thus God's children are immorall whiles their
Father hath anything for them to do on earth.

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

A book is the only immortality.

A book is the only immortality.

All men think all men mortal, but themselves.

All men think all men mortal, but themselves.

I don't want to achieve immortality by being inducted into the
Hall of Fame. I want to achieve immortality read more

I don't want to achieve immortality by being inducted into the
Hall of Fame. I want to achieve immortality by not dying.

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.

The belief in immortality has always seemed cowardly to me. When very young I learned that all things die, and read more

The belief in immortality has always seemed cowardly to me. When very young I learned that all things die, and all that we wish of good must be won on this earth or not at all.