History Quotes / WhoWantsToLiveForever

-->-- '''Literature/{{Kane}}''', ''Bloodstone''

-->-- '''Count Magnus Lee''', ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD''

->''"This is what happens when you're a vampire. You have to watch everyone die. Your mother and father. All your friends. Sometimes brutal, like slipping and falling onto a giant spike. Or falling asleep in an autumn pile of leaves and having some of them block your windpipe. Or making the simple mistake of fashioning a mask out of crackers and being attacked by ducks, geese, swans. Or simply dying of old age. But even old age is brutal. Watching your friends grow old. They can't piss, and they say stupid things, and their brains go, and they can't remember anything. And then one day they can't even remember who you are, and you wish they were dead, and then they do die. No, if I know Stu, this was probably the way he wanted to go: disemboweled by werewolves. Blood and guts splayed onto the trees. His face torn to shreds. I hope I made you feel better."''

-->--'''Ranephi''', ''[[ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian The Savage Sword of Conan]]'' #8: "The Forever Phial"

-->--'''Max Winters''', ''WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}}''

-->--'''Angel de la Guardia''', ''Film/{{Cronos}}''

-->--'''Miriam Blaylock''', ''Film/TheHunger''

-> ''Everyone you love is gone! I can see it in your eyes: you wish for death! [...] I curse you with life. To never know peace. To walk the Earth alone for eternity. ''You will never die...

-->--'''Faethor Ferenczy,''' ''Literature/{{Necroscope}} II: Wamphyri''

-->--''Literature/{{Repeat}}''

-->'''[[VideoGame/SamAndMax Sam]]''': Did you know that there are jellyfish that can live forever?\\

''Claptrap''': Promise?\\

-->-- '''[[BrainUploading Computer]] Cave Johnson''', ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}''

-->--''LetsPlay/DreamSMP''

-->--'''Jacob Geller,''' "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f5Xt5pZZZM The Best Simpsons Intro Is About Losing Everything You Love]]"

->''OK, what is the one thing that can never ever ''ever'' in a million years get boring? If you said [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} "busting ghosts"]], tragically, you'd be wrong. Was almost through the "W"s when the bloom came off that rose. [[LiteraryMashups Heathcliff was defending Moonbase]] Literature/WutheringHeights from the crafty poltergeist when I realized that being a being of pure intellect was... boring. It's boring! You know what I'd really like to do? [[SenseLossSadness Like to scratch my nose.]]''

-''>We are not among the living, and so we cannot die. [[TheUndead But neither are we dead.]] For too long I've been parched with thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. [[SenseLossSadness I feel]] ''[[SenseLossSadness nothing]]''. Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh.''

->Hell is enduring the pain of death, only to [[ResurrectiveImmortality be reborn]]. This limbo I suffer has the persistence of the rising sun; never a sign of salvation or deliverance into the next world. To me, ''that'' is Hell.

->Immortality ain't nothing but a nightmare. Life's valuable because it's short. We gotta do our best with the time we got.

->I've been destined to live forever, even if humanity is annihilated as a result. However, I'm able to die. To be or not to be. It makes no difference to me. My death is the only absolute liberty.

->[[Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi I am Evangeline A.K. McDowell.]] [[OurVampiresAreDifferent A vampire.]] [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld I've been alive for 700 years.]] [[LivingForeverIsAwesome What? You're jealous?]] Settle down, youngster. {{Immortality}} [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome isn't as good as it sounds.]] It can be quite harsh on you, you know. [[Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi Well, there are fun times along the way.]] [[{{Deconstruction}} But when you're living a long life, before you know it... you'll be on your own at the end. No, even before that you'll grow tired of the things you loved. Devotion and attachment become impossible. You'll rapidly forget just about everything.]] [[ShaggyDogStory Bringing up things isn't worth it anymore.]] [[TearJerker What kind of fate... is this?]]\\
[[{{Reconstruction}} This is the story of such people,]] [[HypocriticalHeartwarming who ended up being such trivial.]]

->For you people who are destined to die one day, can you understand the feelings of an undead who wants to die, but can't?

->I have lived for 10,000 years. Believe me, you have no idea what that means for me: boredom. Everlasting, hideous boredom. A never-ending search for ways to pass the time, and mating with a human woman is one of the few I enjoy.

->In life, you can find salvation because there's an end. Not being able to die means you're going to be left behind in the world. Everyone who knows you will ultimately leave behind and die. Lives appear and disappear one after another and [[ForcedToWatch all you can do is watch]]. As they fall like endless snows... As they walk to the unreachable moon... No matter what situation you find yourself in, [[FateWorseThanDeath the day you obtain an immortal life will be the day your eternal hell begins for all time]].

->I got no arms, I'm blind, I didn't have an erection since the planet stopped moving and you want me to be like this for eternity!

->My armies have long been ''dust'' in the desert out there, my slave girls, too! I go ''gladly'' to join them! Everlasting life, ''good-bye!''

->Do you ''hear'', ye accursed Elder Gods? Do you truly ''hear??'' That's the sound of ''death'' there, slicing away at that bolted door... the sound of laughing ''death'', always triumphant in the ''end''... and ''here'', at last, is my ''deliverer!'' The one whom even ''your guardians'' could not keep from me! White wolf -- elementals -- you were determined that, though I had ''bargained'' with you for eternal life, I still should not ''enjoy'' it -- but stay a ''prisoner'' here for all time! But you left a ''slight'' hope, if only to ''torment'' me: that one might ''slay'' me, if he got ''past'' all those guardians. Well, one ''has'' done that which no amount of ''outrage'' could spur any weak-kneed ''villager'' to do... one whom even your ''wind-elementals'' cannot keep from reaching the calm ''eye'' of the now-rising ''hurricane!'' And, ''in'' that eye stand ''I''... ''Ranephi''... ''weary'' of aimless ''living''... ''grateful'' to be ''set free'' of my bondage to ''undeath''... by the downward stroke of a ''barbarian-wielded axe!'' You ''lose,'' ye hated ''Elder Gods!'' You '''lo--'''
-->--''[[ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian The Savage Sword of Conan]]'' #8: "The Forever Phial"

->Immortality is a curse! Brother, trust me!

->Time... Time flows by us like water. The ages pass until we are weary, so weary of life. Everything we create is destroyed, the lands we love are upturned. Mortal man may pass beyond this world, even if they do not know what lies there, but the elves... the elves must stay. You are about to face something, Ancanar, that may require stronger faith then you know have. Death... death is a gift. Ancanar.

->Yeah, well, life is a bitch, ain't it? Then you don't die.

->Well, it's [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor everything you've ever wanted]]; [[ImmortalitySeeker eternal life as part of The One]]. [[AndIMustScream You're not going to like it]].

->Ah, well, [[SuicideMission who wants to live forever]]? HAHAHAHAH! DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!

->Oh I've lived to see some amazing things, Elly. Another century come to pass, but I've... I've had to see my friends and loved ones die off through the years... Hal and Melinda... Brutus Howell... my wife... my boy. And you Elaine... you'll die too, and my curse is knowing that I'll be there to see it. It's my atonement you see; it's my punishment, for letting John Coffey ride the lightning; for killing a miracle of God. You'll be gone like all the others. I'll have to stay. Oh, I'll die eventually, that I'm sure. I have no illusions of immortality, but I will have wished for death... long before death finds me. In truth, I wish for it already.

-> Everyone you love is gone! I can see it in your eyes: you wish for death! [...] I curse you with life. To never know peace. To walk the Earth alone for eternity. ''You will never die...''

->We are not among the living, and so we cannot die. [[TheUndead But neither are we dead.]] For too long I've been parched with thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. [[SenseLossSadness I feel]] ''[[SenseLossSadness nothing]]''. Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea, nor the warmth of a woman's flesh.

->[[DareToBeBadass C'mon, you apes,]] [[BattleCry you wanna live forever?!]]

->Without death, life is meaningless. It is a story that can never be told. A song that can never be sung. For how would one finish it?

->Immortality is only for the gods. I wonder how they can stand it.

->[[AC: I couldn't have given them more life. I could only have given them immortality. They didn't think it was worth the price.]]

->To one as young as you, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed at the end of a very, ''very'' long day.

->Life's only precious because it ends, kid. Take it from a god. You mortals don't know how lucky you are.

->The first ten million years were the worst. And the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million years I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline.

->We could not die. We had tried it. We had attempted suicide, oh one or two of us had. But {{A|IIsACrapshoot}}M had stopped us. AM was intent on keeping us in his belly forever, twisting and torturing us perpetually.

->Death is part of who we are. It guides us. It shapes us. It drives us to madness. Can you still be human if you have no mortal end?

->What do mortals know? Flesh can heal, but the soul can be scarred! To be doomed to wander through eternity... branded an outcast, no land to call home, no man to name friend! Whatever he seeks to love - to grasp - slips through his embrace inevitably. Age consumes the bones of his hope. The loneliness! Only memories, cold phantoms to torture his dreams. And the hideous, smothering boredom that creeps more stifling with each decade, as the taste of life's frantic delights and transient interests grows stale and dry upon his spirit! It is a curse that waxes less endurable with each passing year."

->Everything dies. It is good that everything dies. [[TogetherInDeath I want to die when you die]]. Do not let him enchant me, do not let him make me immortal.

->But length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery and already she begins to know it. All get what they want; they do not always like it.

->People do not want immortality. They simply do not want to die [...] They want to live. They want to feel the ground beneath their feet, see the clouds overhead, love other people, be with them, and think. Nothing more. Everything that has been said beyond that is a lie.

->Ah, but to live forever, eh, Thibor the Wallach? How sweet is life, eh? But would you believe it can be boring, too? No, of course not, for you have not known the ennui of the centuries. Women? [[MemeticMolester I have had such women]]! And food? Ah! [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Gobbets you've not yet dreamed of]]. And yet for these last hundred – nay, two hundred – years, all of these things have bored me.

->Though immortality may have eluded me... [[FaceDeathWithDignity perhaps it's for the best]]. After all... what is eternity without my beloved Agnes by my side?

->We've lived too long -- seen too much. To live on as we have is to leave behind joy, and love, and companionship, because we know it to be transitory, of the moment; we know it will turn to ash. Only those whose lives are brief can imagine that love is eternal. You should embrace that remarkable illusion. It may be the greatest gift your kind has ever received.

->I don't age. I regenerate. ''You'' wither and decay. You can spend the rest of your life with me, [[MayflyDecemberRomance but I can't spend the rest of my life with you]]. That's the curse of the Time Lords.

->Immortality isn't living forever. That's not what it feels like. Immortality is everybody else dying.

->A life this long, do you understand what it is? It's a battlefield, like this one, and it's empty. Because everyone else has fallen.

->I have been delivered from death. To a more permanent hell.

->I'd kill a thousand more to never have to be alone. You don't know the pain of living centuries watching [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes the women you love]] grow old and [[MayflyDecemberRomance turn to dust]]!
-->-- '''[[ComicBook/VandalSavage Dr.]] [[{{Expy}} Knox]]''', ''{{Series/Smallville}}'', "Cure"

->Immortality consists largely of boredom.

->I want to live, however briefly, knowing my life is finite. Mortality gives meaning to human life, captain. Peace, love, friendship. These are precious because we know they cannot endure. A butterfly that lives forever... is really not a butterfly at all."

->Forever young, I wanna be forever young\\
Do you really want to live forever, forever?

->But I am damned\\

Thus my freedom is captivity

->Sapphire Trans-Am\\

[[TheFogOfAges Someday we won't remember this.]]

->Who wants to live forever\\
When love must die?

->Everything ends... Eventually. Every story ever told finishes in death if you tell it long enough. Sort of a fact of life... Got used to that now. Across time... Across space... I've lost it all now. Family. Friends. My own people. My home. Donna... Rose... I've always survived, I've always endured. I've always got through whatever has been thrown at me. However much I lose, I always carry on. To bear that burden. To remember them. Everything ends, eventually...

->Another age turns and once more, the world is hung in the balance. Once again, my brethren must fight and die for a cause that means little to us. Long ago we made our decision and there is no changing it. But the long years have worn me, as the tide shatters the shore, and sometimes I grow weary of the endless battle. What is more, I now wonder if it truly was our decision. I’ve seen enough to know how manipulative the Architect of Fate can be. I suppose it matters not. In truth, the only time I truly feel alive is when I face a foe capable of killing me.

->Death? What is Death? It is the natural state of all things. It is life that is the aberration. It is life that should be feared, for it can go by with our work undone, it can be wasted away in failure and indolence. Death is to be embraced.

->Immortality is one of those things that ''seems'' cool, but... it's probably not for everyone.

->To tell the truth, I think I had enough of afterlives as it is - this one has been pretty purgatorial. Almost fifty years floating in supercooled jelly like some medical specimen, thoughts creeping like rats through cramped silicon corridors of machines trapped behind video screens and camera systems. Never sleeping, never resting, never ceasing to think about the world I no longer belong to. No, if this is a taste of the afterlife, I think simple oblivion will do nicely.

->Even death is a luxury I do not have!

-->-- ''Gunbird 2''

->[[BadassBoast Death comes for all! Except me.]]

->To most, life is fleeting. To me, it is quagmire.

->Eternity... it hurts... it really hurts...\\

We tried our best! In the rain. In the wind. In the storm. Even when our companions died, [[SoleSurvivor we kept fighting.]] But the [[ForeverWar eternal war]]... Our eternal pain... [[LaughingMad Hahaha...]] The eternal pain! It screamed at us! [[StrawNihilist It told us there was nothing of value to protect in this world... The world had no meaning!]] Hahaha! It SCREAMED at us! [[CryLaughing HAHAHA!]] This pain! This sadness! This DESPERATION! YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT!!

->[[AC:When a thing [[ImmortalitySeeker seals itself against its own destruction]], it merely dies a different death.]]

->OK, what is the one thing that can never ever ''ever'' in a million years get boring? If you said [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} "busting ghosts"]], tragically, you'd be wrong. Was almost through the "W"s when the bloom came off that rose. [[LiteraryMashups Heathcliff was defending Moonbase]] Literature/WutheringHeights from the crafty poltergeist when I realized that being a being of pure intellect was... boring. It's boring! You know what I'd really like to do? [[SenseLossSadness Like to scratch my nose.]]

->[[Film/{{Gladiator}} "What we do in life echoes in eternity."]] But what if your life is eternal? What becomes of the echoes? I'll tell you. ''[[SuddenlyShouting I'll tell you!]]'' They thunder and roar! They become deafening reminders of your failures! [[ShellShockedVeteran They remind you that you once stood with the blood of murdered friends on your hands, and that it was all for naught.]] And when you've listened long enough, you realise there's no absolution, no redemption. No point to any of it. So don't tell me how we can change the world, and how I am needed. This world has nothing left to offer me, nothing worth saving, and I couldn't care less if it all burned.

->The [[ImmortalityInducer Hourai Elixir]] is a forbidden medicine [[ImmortalityImmorality that should never be consumed by humans]]. With but a single taste, you will never become an adult. With a second taste, you will forget all disease and illness. With a third taste.... your soul will forever churn in torment!

->You're both gonna die and leave me behind? No! I don't wanna be alone! If you die, I wanna die, too!

-> '''Ozpin''': Don't you get it? She's been alive [[TimeAbyss longer than you can comprehend]]. The only thing she craves now is release. [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum Death]].
-->-- ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', [[Recap/RWBYV8E7War "War"]]

->Ugh... the same nonsense, over and over again. How does [[GodEmpress Albia]] ''stand it?''

->Holy crap! Is ''[[DecadentCourt everyone]]'' [[EverythingTryingToKillYou out to kill me]]?? This whole undead immortality thing is totally overrated!!

->I'm Immortal.\\
[[DeathSeeker I just want to die]], I don't care how.

->I don't really wanna become immortal that much anyways, it's too much hard work. You gotta keep watching people going in and out of the White House for the rest of time. No thanks, ''Samuel!''

->Kivouackians don't perish with time. Billions of years we've been about, and life's not worth much once all the rest is gone. You get tired of the wind and the birds, the sound of laughter and the smell of pine. Life is like a piece of paper, and the writing is our lives. When you only have ninety years, the ink turns to gold, so valuable are the words, the days you live, because soon, the story will end. But what if you have a neverending page, a bottomless inkwell? The more you write, the less it all means. That's our curse! [[AnimalisticAbomination We]] live so long that it's not even life anymore. We're not living forever. We're ''dying'' forever.

->I think they [humanity] are just doing the best they can with immortality. A human being will rarely admit this to you, but they tend to be terrified of living forever. They were born and raised with the understanding that their lives would end. They've achieved everything they wanted to achieve, all the ills that plagued them.\\

I think that makes you one of the lucky ones.

->I think, if viewed by one of the many Emily clones in ''WesternAnimation/WorldOfTomorrow'', the Simpsons would seem to have done it: they have achieved eternal life, they forever have purpose, they will continue their line until the end of time, and [[FranchiseZombie nothing can stop them]]. They ''were'' the Simpsons, they ''are'' the Simpsons and ''will be'' the Simpsons. And having achieved this, they get... they get ''what'', exactly? Constant reminders of [[{{Flanderization}} the ways they've changed]], and constant reminders of [[StatusQuoIsGod the ways they cannot]].

->Haven't you ever wanted to live forever? It sounds appealing as just a general idea, because the mind immediately sees itself going on as it has, cheating the system and getting an All-You-Can-Sentiently-Experience Buffet in the form that it's comfortable with. The body is bad with time this way because getting old still comes as a shock to it somehow, even though you've always known it was coming. The body is poor at anticipating fundamental change, habitual and automatic to the end. Eternal life is, when you think about it, a complexly frightening prospect. What happens when mind and body fall out of synch? When the body becomes a prison from which there is no escape, not even in death?

->They don't know what it's like to liiive... fooor... eeever... aaand fooorget who they even are...

->You want to live like this? Abandoned, alone, a prisoner in a world you can see but never touch? Old and infirm as you are, I'd trade a thousand of my frozen years for your worst day.

->Take a good look, doctor. I've been like this for nearly fifty years and I haven't aged one day. I have become what many men have dreamed of: an immortal. And yet, there hasn't been a day, an hour, a minute, I haven't thought about death. It ''obsesses'' me. Even now.

->I'm just ''so tired''...

->In a way, both ''Film/{{Cocoon}}'' pictures consider the same dilemma that the angels struggled with in Wim Wenders' ''Film/WingsOfDesire'': Is it better to live forever as a spirit who can feel nothing, or for a finite time as a creature who can breathe and hurt and die? My answer would be: Take me to [[GildedCage the silver city]] and I'll think it over for a few thousand years.

-->-- '''Mbah Gotho''', oldest man recorded, if unverified by independent 3rd party.

->OK, what is the one thing that can never ever ''ever'' in a million years get boring? If you said [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} "busting ghosts"]], tragically, you'd be wrong. Was almost through the "W"s when the bloom came off that rose. [[LiteraryMashups Heathcliff was defending Moonbase]] Literature/WutheringHeights from the crafty {{poltergeist}} when I realised that being a being of pure intellect was... boring. It's boring! You know what I'd really like to do? [[SenseLossSadness Like to scratch my nose.]]

-->-- '''Professor Dumbledore''', ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''

This message brought to you by Direct TV.

->Rebirth, huh? Sure, you live forever, but minus your body. I like my body, kid. I don't feature the idea of my memories an' personality bein' stored in the head of some saintly child, like just one more dusty ol' book in the library...
-->-- '''Augustus Sinclair,''' ''VideoGame/Bioshock2''

->Accept me and I shall grant life everlasting. Though it shall be filled with grief, thou shalt have all eternity to wreak vengeance upon thine enemies.
-->-- '''Lester [=DeRosso=]''', ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault''

->OK, what is the one thing that can never ever ''ever'' in a million years get boring? If you said [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} "busting ghosts"]], tragically, you'd be wrong. Was almost through the "W"s when the bloom came off that rose. [[LiteraryMashups Heathcliff was defending Moonbase]] Literature/WutheringHeights from the crafty {{poltergeist}} when I realised that being a being of pure intellect was... boring. It's boring. You know what I'd really like to do? [[SenseLossSadness Like to scratch my nose.]]

->I don't really wanna become immortal that much anyways, it's too much hard work. You gotta keep watching people going in and out of the White House for the rest of time. No thanks, Samuel!

->''"This is what happens when you're a vampire. You have to watch everyone die. Your mother and father. All your friends. Sometimes brutal, like slipping and falling onto a giant spike. Or falling asleep in an autumn pile of leaves and having some of them block your windpipe. Or making the simple mistake of fashioning a mask out of crackers and being attacked by ducks, geese, swans. Or simply dying of old age. But even old age is brutal. Watching your friends grow old. They can't piss, and they say stupid things, and their brains go, and they can't remember anything. And then one day they can't even remember who you are, and you wish they were dead, and then they do die. No, if I know Stu, this was probably the way he wanted to go. Disembowelled by werewolves. Blood and guts splayed onto the trees. His face torn to shreds. I hope I made you feel better."''

-->--''Film/DeathBecomesHer''

'''Moira''': ''You are.''

-->--'''Deacon''', ''Film/WhatWeDoInTheShadows''

-->-- '''Aslan''' (referring to Jadis the White Witch), ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew''

-->-- '''Heiji''', ''Manga/DetectiveConan''

->[[Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi I am Evangeline A.K. McDowell.]] [[OurVampiresAreDifferent A vampire.]] [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld I've been alive for 700 years.]] [[LivingForeverIsAwesome What? You're jealous?]] Settle down, youngster. {{Immortality}} [[RealityEnsues isn't as good as it sounds.]] It can be quite harsh on you, you know. [[Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi Well, there are fun times along the way.]] [[{{Deconstruction}} But when you're living a long life, before you know it... you'll be on your own at the end. No, even before that you'll grow tired of the things you loved. Devotion and attachment become impossible. You'll rapidly forget just about everything.]] [[ShaggyDogStory Bringing up things isn't worth it anymore.]] [[TearJerker What kind of fate... is this?]]\\

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

->"So long as this world turns, you shall walk its face." That was the curse cast upon her. But, if Salem can divide humanity beyond repair and bring all four Relics back together, she believes that maybe her curse will be broken; the gods will rule against us, and destroy Remnant once and for all.
-->-- '''Professor Ozpin''', ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', [[Recap/RWBYV8E7War "War"]]