威廉·哈兹里特/William Hazlitt
Perhaps the best cure for the fear of death is to reflect that life has a beginning as well as an end. There was a time when we were not: this gives me no concern.
Why then should it trouble us that a time will come when we shall cease to be? I have no wish to have been alive a hundred years ago, or in the reign of Queen Anne. Why should I regret and lay it so much to heart that I shall not be alive a hundred years hence, in the reign of I cannot tell whom?
To die is only to be as we were born; yet no one feels any remorse, or regret, or repugnance, in contemplating this last idea. It is rather a relief and disburthening of the mind; it seems to have been a holiday time with us then: we were not called to appear upon the stage of life, to wear robes or tatters, to laugh or cry, be hooted or applauded; we had lain perdu all this while, snug out of harm's way; and had slept out our thousands of centuries without wanting to be waked up; at peace and free from care, in a long nonage, in a sleep deeper and calmer than that of infancy, wrapped in the softest and finest dust. And the worst that we dread is, after a short fretful, feverish being, after vain hopes, and idle fears, to sink to final repose again, and forget the troubled dream of life!
也许摆脱死亡恐惧的最佳疗法是思考生命的开始与终结。曾经我们对此没有给予关注。
为什么走到生命的尽头时，这个问题却会困扰我们？我不希望生活在一百年前，或者安妮女王时代，为什么还要为未能生活在一百年前，说不出是谁的统治时代而感到遗憾？
死亡就像我们的出生。思考这一永恒的主题，无人会自责、悔恨，或质疑，相反我们可以释放心灵，缓解忧愁。我们仿佛在度假一般：我们没有被传唤至人生的舞台上，穿着华丽的衣服或破旧的衣衫，大笑不止或痛哭流涕，被人训斥或者赞美，然而对此，我们却隐藏了许久，安详悠闲，而远离伤害。我们仿佛沉睡了千百个世纪而不愿被人唤醒，安逸而无忧虑，总处于孩童时期，而且比婴儿睡得还要深沉，还要平静，被裹挟于最轻柔、最细密的灰尘之中。我们最怕的是经过瞬间的狂热、徒劳的希望、没有缘由的恐惧，又沉浸到熟睡状态，而忘记生命中困扰我们的梦想！