Famous Quotes

"There are hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings around the United States and in other countries, too. Wright lived into his 90s, and one of his most famous buildings, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, was completed just before his death. Wright buildings look like Wright buildings - that is their paradox."

Jane Smiley on Death

More quotes about Death

• "A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."

  Martin Luther King, Jr. on Death

• "To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent."

  Buddha on Death

• "The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead."

  Albert Einstein on Death

• "The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time."

  Mark Twain on Death

• "Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there's a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see."

  Helen Keller on Death

More quotes by Jane Smiley

• "I learned why 'out riding alone' is an oxymoron: An equestrian is never alone, is always sensing the other being, the mysterious but also understandable living being that is the horse."

• "I discovered that the horse is life itself, a metaphor but also an example of life's mystery and unpredictability, of life's generosity and beauty, a worthy object of repeated and ever changing contemplation."

• "Vets do what doctors used to - diagnose the injury or the condition, patch it up as best they can and remind you that these things happen and that in life we are also in the midst of death."

• "Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not."

• "In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it."