"For me, the problem of time is linked up with that of death, with the thought that we inevitably draw closer and closer to it, with the horror of decay."
Decay quotes
Decay
228 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Topics related to Decay
Browse quotes that often appear alongside decay — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Decay quotes (page 3 of 12)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"When a society decays, it is language that is first to become gangrenous. As a result, social criticism begins with grammar and the re-establishing of meanings"
"Things exalted then decay. This is going against the Way. What goes against the Way meets an early end."
"All false art, all vain wisdom, lasts its time but finally destroys itself, and its highest culture is also the epoch of its decay."
"So peaceful shalt thou end thy blissful days, And steal thyself from life by slow decays."
"Time on its back bears all things far away - Full many a challenge is wrought by many a day - Shape, fortune, name, and nature all decay"
"This solitary Tree! a living thing Produced too slowly ever to decay; Of form and aspect too magnificent To be destroyed."
"If the British Empire is fated to pass from life into history, we must hope it will not be by the slow process of dispersion and decay, but in some supreme exertion for freedom, for right and for truth."
"All things are in the act of change; thou thyself in ceaseless transformation and partial decay, and the whole universe with thee."
"I loved my body and did not want it to perish; I loved my soul and did not want it to decay. I have fought to reconcile these two primordial forces."
"Death was in every sell of his body. He gave off a faint, greenish steam of decay. Lee imagined he would glow in the dark."
"God is neither manifest nor hidden; He is neither revealed nor unrevealed; there are no words to tell that which He is. He is without form, without quality, without decay."
"He reflected on the decay of mankind-the decline of the human race into folly and weakness and rottenness. 'Be a good animal, true to your animal instinct' was his motto."
"When Catholicism goes bad it becomes the religion of amulets and holy places and priestcraft: Protestantism, in its corresponding decay, becomes a vague mist of ethical platitudes"
"Man, who wert once a despot and a slave, A dupe and a deceiver! a decay, A traveller from the cradle to the grave Through the dim night of this immortal day."
"As the gentleman decays, the lady survives as the strongest evidence of his former predominance."
"Whenever a people or an institution forget its hard beginnings, it is beginning to decay."
"For an adult, the world is constantly trying to clamp down on itself. Routine, responsibility, decay of institutions, corruption: this is all the world closing in."
"Now, a corpse, poor thing, is an untouchable and the process of decay is, of all pieces of bad manners, the vulgarest imaginable. For a corpse is, by definition, a person absolutely devoid of savoir vivre."
"Systems, scientific or philosophic, come and go. Each method of limited understanding is at length exhausted. In its prime each system is a triumphant success: in its decay it is an obstructive nuisance."