Murder... murder... Can you prove it was murder? [...] I didn't think you could prove it was murder. She was dying in any event.

Dying is not a crime.

Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.

Death is not the worst thing; rather, when one who craves death cannot attain even that wish.

Dying," observed the doctor, "is such a very ordinary thing to do.

I should not really object to dying if it were not followed by death.

The will to save a life is not the power to stop a death.

It may be impossible to prolong life, but it is frequently in our power to smooth the approaches of death; and they who die happily are certainly more to be envied than those who live otherwise.

A physician can sometimes parry the scythe of death, but has no power over the sand in the hourglass.

Is it lawful to wish for death—merely to wish—without doing anything to accelerate it? Such wishes may proceed rather from the pressure of affliction, from a sense of the vanities of the world, or from an earnest desire to partake, as soon as possible, of the joys of immortality. The two latter form my case. There is very little indeed to bind me to this world—nothing except my beloved children. To them my departure, whenever it may happen, will no doubt be cause of grief; but time assuages sorrow, and in a little while the memory of me will perhaps be a pleasing melancholy, succeeding to the first violent emotions. For my transition, I hope I am not wholly unprepared. I endeavor every day to increase my readiness to go. Thou, O God! knowest how often I think of thee, how often I pray thee to increase my love for thee, and to enable me to steer clear of giving thee offence. Adieu, then, my earthly friends! adieu, my beloved children! Weep not for me!

The premature deaths of infants have nothing in them to suggest the thought that one who so terminates his life is subject to some grievous misfortune, any more than they are to be put on a level with the deaths of those who have purified themselves in this life by every kind of virtue.

I dare say that quite a few people have contemplated death for reasons that much later seemed to them to be quite minor. If we are to live in a world where a socially acceptable "early death" can be allowed, it must be allowed as a result of careful consideration. Let us consider me as a test case. As I have said, I would like to die peacefully with Thomas Tallis on my iPod before the disease takes me over and I hope that will not be for quite some time to come, because if I knew that I could die at any time I wanted, then suddenly every day would be as precious as a million pounds. If I knew that I could die, I would live. My life, my death, my choice.

One who is in a dying condition is regarded as a living person in all respects. It is not permitted to bind his jaws, to stop up the organs of the lower extremities, or to place metallic or cooling vessels upon his navel in order to prevent swelling. He is not to be rubbed or washed, nor is sand or salt to be put upon him until he expires. He who touches him is guilty of shedding blood. To what may he be compared? To a flickering flame, which is extinguished as soon as one touches it. Whoever closes the eyes of the dying while the soul is about to depart is shedding blood. One should wait a while; perhaps he is only in a swoon.

She didn't kill him," explained the Iceman. "She could have saved him, but she chose not to. Legally it's not the same thing; morally it is.