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

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.

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

The stars shall fade away, the sun himself Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years, But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth, Unhurt amidst the wars of elements, The wrecks of matter, and the crush of worlds.

The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

I understand [Willy Loman's] longing for immortality Willy's writing his name in a cake of ice on a hot day, but he wishes he were writing in stone.