"The Greeks said grandly in their tragic phrase, 'Let no one be called happy till his death' to which I would add, 'Let no one, till his death, be called unhappy.'"

Death

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Death as articulated by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Death provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work received renewed attention following the feminist scholarship of the 1970s and 1980s, and greater recognition of women writers in English. Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Elizabeth Barrett wrote poetry from the age of eleven. Her mother's collection of her poems forms one of the largest extant collections of juvenilia by any English writer. At 15, she became ill, suffering intense head and spinal pain for the rest of her life. Later in life, she also developed lung problems, possibly tuberculosis. She took laudanum for the pain from an early age, which is likely to have contributed to her frail health.

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More by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"And each man stands with his face in the light. Of his own drawn sword, ready to do what a hero can."

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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"The devil's most devilish when respectable."

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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"How many desolate creatures on the earth have learnt the simple dues of fellowship and social comfort, in a hospital."

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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"First time he kissed me, he but only kissed The fingers of this hand wherewith I write; And, ever since, it grew more clean and white."

— Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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More about Death

"It's better to get a rosebud while you're alive than a whole bouquet after you're dead."

— Home Run Baker
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"In our racist, sexist society, Christmas is the 8 hours when we stop killing each other and gratutious over eating is encouraged so that the starving and other people in the world can die!"

— Lloyd Kaufman
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"The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for."

— Homer
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"The charm of fame is so great that we like every object to which it is attached, even death."

— Blaise Pascal
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