It must be so, - Plato, thou reason'st well.
Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing after immortality?

- Addison, Cato, V, 1


There is surely a piece of Divinity in us, something that was before the elements, and owes no homage to the sun.

- Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, II


Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

‑ Longfellow, A Psalm of Life


Unmeasured by the flight of years;
And all that life is love.

‑ James Montgomery, The Issues of Life and Death


Or ever the silver cord be loosed or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

- Old Testament, Ecclesiastes, XI I, 6, 7