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.

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.

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to
achieve immortality through not dying.

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to
achieve immortality through not dying.

'Tis true; 'tis certain; man though dead retains
Part of himself; the immortal mind remains.

'Tis true; 'tis certain; man though dead retains
Part of himself; the immortal mind remains.

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.

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. . . I want to achieve it through not dying.

I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. . . I want to achieve it through not dying.

No, no, I'm sure,
My restless spirit never could endure
To brood so long upon one luxury,
read more

No, no, I'm sure,
My restless spirit never could endure
To brood so long upon one luxury,
Unless it did, though fearfully, espy
A hope beyond the shadow of a dream.

Yet spirit immortal, the tomb cannot bind thee,
But like thine own eagle that soars to the sun
read more

Yet spirit immortal, the tomb cannot bind thee,
But like thine own eagle that soars to the sun
Thou springest from bondage and leavest behind thee
A name which before thee no mortal hath won.