Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius? Johann Wolfgang von Goethe? Ernest Hemingway? Banksy? Laurie Anderson? Amelia B. Edwards? James Grant? Sylvester Stallone? Anonymous?
Question for Quote Investigator: A family of expressions describes two stages of mortality. One stage corresponds to traditional biological death. The other stage corresponds to cultural disappearance which occurs when a figure is forgotten or socially inactive. Here are three examples:
(1) You die twice: first, when life leaves your body, second, when you are forgotten.
(2) You die twice: first, when you take your last breath, second, when your name is spoken for the last time.
(3) You die twice—once when you retire from public life and once when death takes you.
German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, U.S. author Ernest Hemingway, U.K. graffiti artist Banksy, U.S. musician Laurie Anderson, and others have received credit for instances of this saying. However, I am skeptical because it is difficult to find sold citations. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: This complicated subject is challenging to research because of the wide variety of expressions which mention dying twice. The first strong thematic match found by QI was written in Latin by the Roman philosopher Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius in AD 523 within the work “De consolatione philosophiae” (“On the Consolation of Philosophy”). Boethius mentioned prominent Roman figures such as Brutus and Cato whose renown was declining. Boethius suggested that the recognition of well-known figures faded over time, and obscurity portended a second death. The text below presents an English translation1 followed by the original Latin verse. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:2
Ye lie then all unknown, and fame can give no knowledge of you. But if you think that life can be prolonged by the breath of mortal fame, yet when the slow time robs you of this too, then there awaits you but a second death.
Quodsi putatis longius vitam trahi
Mortalis aura nominis,
Cum sera vobis rapiet hoc etiam dies,
Jam vos secunda mors manet.
In 1823 “The London Magazine” printed an instance in this family of sayings which was applied to actors:3
Actors have a double mortality and die twice!—First their mental faculties droop and become impaired, and they die from the stage, which is their public life; and then after a few years of inglorious silence and sloth, they catch the common trick of age, and die into dust!
In 1863 English writer Amelia B. Edwards published the novel “Barbara’s History” which contained a match using the word “forgotten” within the following dialogue:4
“He may be dead, my dear aunt,” said I, affecting a profound indifference; “but I do not really see how he could possibly be so twice over.”
“We all die twice,” replied she. “The first time is when we simply cease to be; the second, when we are forgotten.”
“Dear aunt,” I exclaimed, “that is very well said!”
Below is an overview showing selected examples together with dates and attributions:
AD 528: (Latin translated into English) If you think that life can be prolonged by the breath of mortal fame, yet when the slow time robs you of this too, then there awaits you but a second death. (Boethius)
1823: Actors have a double mortality and die twice!—First … they die from the stage, which is their public life; and then … they … die into dust! (Unnamed journalist)
1863: We all die twice. The first time is when we simply cease to be; the second, when we are forgotten. (Amelia B. Edwards)
1881: We all die twice; the first time is when we simply cease to be; the second, when we are forgotten. (Attributed to Anonymous by James Grant)
1892: We all die twice—once when we simply cease to be, and next when we are forgotten. (Attributed to Anonymous by a journalist)
1908: Great stage artists die twice—the first time when they take leave of the stage … the second time when, like ordinary mortals, they go the way of all flesh. (Anonymous journalist)
1917: Every man has two deaths; first, his commercial death, when he is disabled through accident or disease …, and second, when he is physically dead. (Attributed to Anonymous in a trade journal)
1926: Athletes die twice—once when Death takes them and once when they retire from sport. (Attributed to Anonymous in Time magazine)
1933: In Hollywood you die twice. Once when the producers will, next when Jehovah decrees. (Herb Howe)
1957: You die twice, once when life leaves the body and the second time when you are completely forgotten. (Attributed to Anonymous by Catherine Arley)
1959: Great men die twice, once when they leave this world and a second time when their lifework disappears. (Ivo Andrić in Serbo-Croatian; translated to English by Lovett F. Edwards)
1972: Dancers like athletes, die twice. First, they die as performers … Then they die the final human death. (Gwen Verdon)
1972: We all die twice: once when we ourselves die, and the second time when those who have loved us and remember us die in turn. (Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by George H. Pollock)
1982: We all die twice: once when our physical life is at an end and then when those who knew us are no longer here. (Attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by George H. Pollock)
1990: Artists die twice. First creatively. Then physically. The second one is the easiest. (Sylvester Stallone)
1991: No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away. (Terry Pratchett)
1998: Maybe we die twice. Once when our heart stops. Again when the living stop telling stories about us. (Phil Cousineau)
2001: You die twice. The first time is when your heart stops. The second—and truly fatal time—is when everyone who remembers you is gone. (Attributed to Anonymous by Susan Maxwell Skinner)
2010: I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time. (Banksy in “The Sun” newspaper according to “Chambers Dictionary of Great Quotations”)
2011: We all die twice. Once when our bodies die … and then again when someone says our name for the last time. (Attributed to Anonymous by Sally Morgan)
2015: You die three times. First when your heart stops. Second is when you’re buried or cremated. And third is the last time someone says your name. (Attributed to Anonymous by Laurie Anderson)
2016: Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. (Attributed to Ernest Hemingway by Reddit user ozymandius5)
Below are details for additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1863 “The Reader: A Review of Literature, Science, and Art” published a review of the novel “Barbara’s History” by Amelia B. Edwards. The reviewer found the character Mrs. Sandyshaft compelling. She employed the key quotation:5
Of Mrs. Sandyshaft, however, there can be no doubt. She is a clear, well-defined human personage from first to last, whom we revere and laugh at, and really love. “We all die twice,” said Mrs. Sandyshaft; “the first time is when we cease to be—the second, when we are forgotten.”
In 1881 Scottish novelist James Grant published “Lady Glendonwyn” which contained an instance of the quotation. The phrase “we have been told” indicated that the novelist did not know the identity of the originator:6
“Yes; ‘we all die twice’ we have been told; ‘the first time is when we simply cease to be; the second, when we are forgotten.'”
Grant’s novel was serialized in “The London Journal”. Thus, the quotation achieved wider distribution.7
In 1892 “The Montgomeryshire Express” of Wales printed the expression without attribution in an obituary:8
It has been said that ‘we all die twice—once when we simply cease to be, and next when we are forgotten.’
In 1908 the “New York Tribune” printed an instance in this family of sayings which was applied to “great stage artists”. The paper acknowledged a periodical in Vienna, Austria:9
In noting the death of Pauline Lucca, in that city, on February 28, the “Neue Freie Presse,” of Vienna says: “Great stage artists die twice—the first time when they take leave of the stage and set aside the harp, the second time when, like ordinary mortals, they go the way of all flesh …
In 1917 the trade journal “Mutual Underwriter” printed an instance applied to the business world:10
Every man has two deaths; first, his commercial death, when he is disabled through accident or disease from attending to his business, and second, when he is physically dead so that his burial takes place.
In 1926 “Time” magazine published a profile of a tennis champion. The article included a version of the saying applied to athletes:11
The funereal tone of the newspaper notices merely emphasized a statement made by a wise man that “athletes die twice—once when Death takes them and once when they retire from sport.”
In 1933 “The New Movie Magazine” of New Jersey printed an instance tailored to Hollywood:12
In the world outside you die but once. In Hollywood you die twice. Once when the producers will, next when Jehovah decrees … When you are pronounced extinct by the Hollywood gods you are condemned to the unhappy haunting ground of former triumphs, a wraith among the studios from whom all casting directors shrink.
In 1957 “Woman of Straw” by Catherine Arley was translated from French into English. The book contained the following instance:13
People said that you die twice, once when life leaves the body and the second time when you are completely forgotten.
In 1959 “The Bridge on The Drina” by Ivo Andrić was translated from Serbo-Croatian to English. The work included the following instance:14
‘There is no need to feel sorry for me. For all of us die only once, whereas great men die twice, once when they leave this world and a second time when their lifework disappears.’
In 1972 the “Boston Globe” of Massachusetts published an article about U.S. entertainer Gwen Verdon who employed an instance of the saying applied to dancers:15
“Dancers like athletes, die twice,” she says about the terrible twin toll, “First they die as performers — a fate which is very painful because it has to be witnessed and then lived with. God, that’s awful! Then they die the final human death.”
In 1972 psychiatrist George H. Pollock published an article in the “Israel Annals of Psychiatry and Related Disciplines”. Pollock credited the saying to the major German literary figure Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:16
Goethe, in his novel Elective Affinities, said that we all die twice: once when we ourselves die, and the second time when those who have loved us and remember us die in turn.
Pollock pointed to the novel “Die Wahlverwandtschaften” (“Elective Affinities”), but QI has been unable to find the saying in that book. Thus, QI hypothesizes that Pollock was restating or summarizing a point that he ascribed to Goethe.
In 1982 “The Psychohistory Review” printed a comment from George H. Pollock in which he credited Goethe with the saying again, but Pollock presented a different phrasing:17
Goethe indicated that we all die twice: once when our physical life is at an end and then when those who knew us are no longer here.
In 1990 “American Film” magazine published a profile of actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone who employed a variant of the saying:18
“Artists die twice. First creatively. Then physically. The second one is the easiest.”
In 1991 English humorist Terry Pratchett published “Reaper Man”, a book in his long-running Discworld series. This work contained a thematically related passage:19
In the Ramtop village where they dance the real Morris dance, for example, they believe that no one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away — until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone’s life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence.
In 1998 Phil Cousineau published “The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred” which contained an instance:20
Walking in the thick darkness of the Cambodian night, my sandals slapping against the ancient stones of the long causeway, a thought, wedged in from some distant time, arose in my mind. Maybe we die twice. Once when our heart stops. Again when the living stop telling stories about us.
In 2001 Susan Maxwell Skinner published a book about Diana, Princess of Wales titled “Diana: Memory of a Rose: A Personal Reminiscence” which contained the following:21
Some societies believe you die twice. The first time is when your heart stops. The second—and truly fatal time—is when everyone who remembers you is gone. Then you are merely a name in history.
In 2010 “The Sun” newspaper of London linked the saying to graffiti artist Banksy according to an entry in the “Chambers Dictionary of Great Quotations”:22
Banksy- English graffiti artist and film-maker, whose identity remains undisclosed to the general public.
I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.
2010 In The Sun.
In 2011 British psychic Sally Morgan used the saying in her book “Life After Death: Messages of Love from the Other Side”:23
I once heard someone say that we all die twice. Once when our bodies die, when we leave this life and go on to the next, and then again when someone says our name for the last time. It’s a scary thought, isn’t it?
In 2015 musician Laurie Anderson delivered a speech at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She employed a variant expression with three deaths instead of two:24
They say you die three times. First when your heart stops. Second is when you’re buried or cremated. And third is the last time someone says your name.
In 2016 a participant named ozymandius5 at the social media website Reddit made a comment in the Subreddit tipofmytongue. The participant implausibly credited Ernest Hemingway with the saying:25
Every man has two deaths, when he is buried in the ground and the last time someone says his name. In some ways men can be immortal. — Ernest Hemingway
In conclusion, Boethius wrote cogently on this topic in AD 523. He indicated that a second death awaited prominent individuals when their fame subsided. Amelia B. Edwards penned a version using modern phrasing in her 1863 novel. Ernest Hemingway died in 1961, and he received credit many years later in 2016. This evidence was not substantive.
Goethe died in 1832. Psychiatrist George H. Pollock gave credit to Goethe for two different versions of the saying in 1972 and 1982. QI has not found any direct evidence in the writings of Goethe. QI conjectures that Pollock was summarizing a viewpoint he attributed to Goethe.
The 2010 remark attributed to Banksy contained the phrase “they say”; hence, Banksy disclaimed credit for the saying.
The 2015 remark from Laurie Anderson included the phrase “they say”; hence, Anderson disclaimed credit for the three part version of the saying.
Image Notes: Picture of a foggy graveyard from Scott Rodgerson at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgements: Great thanks to Joseph Rice, Michael DeBusk, and Gil Whalen whose inquiries led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration. Also, thanks to Dan Goncharoff who found the valuable 1823 citation.
Update History: On October 16, 2025, two citations for Boethius were added to the article. Also, the 1823 citation was added. The 1845 precursor citation was removed. The overview and conclusion were updated.
- 1943, The Consolation of Philosophy, Section 1: The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, Translation by W. V. Cooper, Book Two, Quote Page 39, The Modern Library, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1833, Carmina Anicii Manlii Torquati Severini Boethii Græce conversa per Maximum Planudem. (The poems of Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius Converted into Greek by the Maximum Planudes), Primus Edidit Carolus Fridericus Weber (First published by Charles Friedrich Weber), Darmstadii (Darmstadt, Germany) link ↩︎
- 1823 April, The London Magazine, Volume 7, Number 4, Mr. Kemble, Quote Page 449, Column 1, Printed for Taylor and Hessey, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1864 (Available to reviewers in 1863), Barbara’s History by Amelia B. Edwards, Volume 3 of 3, Chapter 16: Mrs. Sandyshaft in the Character of a Mediator, Quote Page 235, Hurst and Blackett, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1863 December 19, The Reader: A Review of Literature, Science, and Art, “Barbara’s History” and “The Gladiators” by J. F. R., (Review of Amelia B. Edwards’s novel “Barbara’s History”), Quote Page 723, Column 2 and 3, Published at the Office of The Reader, London. (Internet Archive) link ↩︎
- 1881, Lady Glendonwyn: A Novel by James Grant, Volume 2 of 3, Chapter 11: How Will It All End?, Quote Page 161, Tinsley Brothers, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1881 August 27, The London Journal and Weekly Record of Literature, Science, and Art, Lady Glendonwyn by James Grant, (Serialized publication), Chapter 31: How Will It All End, Quote Page 136, Column 2, George Vickers, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1892 September 20, The Montgomeryshire Express, Section: Newtown, Obituary for Mr T. O. Edwards, Quote Page 8, Column 5, Montgomeryshire, Wales. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
- 1908 March 13, New-York Tribune, The Talk of the Day, Quote Page 6, Column 4, New York, New York. (Newspapers_com) link ↩︎
- 1917 October 15, Mutual Underwriter, Volume 37, Number 7, Experience Talk, Procrastination, Quote Page 9, Column 2, Mutual Underwriter Company, Rochester, New York. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1926 April 19, Time: The Weekly Newsmagazine, Sport: Gould Out, Quote Page 36, Column 2, Time Inc., Chicago, Illinois. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1933 February, The New Movie Magazine, Herb Howe Picks His 1933 Hall of Fame, Start Page 30, Quote Page 31, Tower Magazines Inc., Dunellen, New Jersey. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1957 Copyright, Woman of Straw by Catherine Arley, Translated by Mervyn Savill, Part 3, Chapter 1, Quote Page 198, The Crime Club, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1959, The Bridge on The Drina by Ivo Andrić, Translation from the Serbo-Croatian by Lovett F. Edwards, Chapter 5, Quote Page 73, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1972 December 1, Boston Globe, A dancer down to earth by Marian Christy (Globe staff), Quote Page 37, Column 2, Boston, Massachusetts. (ProQuest) ↩︎
- 1989, The Mourning-Liberation Process by George H. Pollock, Volume 1, Chapter 12: On Mourning and Anniversaries: The Relationship of Culturally Constituted Defensive Systems to Intrapsychic Adaptive Processes, Start Page 251, Quote Page 252, Note: Reprinted from The Israel Annals of Psychiatry and Related Disciplines, 10/1:9-40 (1972), International Universities Press, Madison, Wisconsin. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1982 Fall, The Psychohistory Review, Volume 11, Number 1, Symposium on “The Broken Connection” by Robert Jay Lifton, Section: Notes, Comment by George H. Pollock, Start Page 95, Quote Page 96, The Psychohistory Review, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1990 January, American Film, Requiem for Heavyweight by Cameron Stauth, (Quotation spoken by Sylvester Stallone), Start Page 22, Quote Page 57, BPI Communications, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1991, Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett, Series: Discworld, Quote Page 227, Victor Gollancz Ltd, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1998, The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred by Phil Cousineau, Chapter 7: Bringing Back the Boon, Quote Page 232, Conari Press, Berkeley, California. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2001, Diana: Memory of a Rose: A Personal Reminiscence by Susan Maxwell Skinner, Chapter 1: The Overture, Quote Page 3, Betty Milner Productions, Carmichael, California. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2015, Chambers Dictionary of Great Quotations, Third Edition, Editor David Pickering, Quote Page 62, Chambers Publishing Ltd., London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2011, Life After Death: Messages of Love from the Other Side by Sally Morgan, Chapter: Family Ties, Quote Page 95, Penguin Books: Penguin Group, London. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- Website: Rolling Stone, Article title: Read Laurie Anderson’s Moving Rock Hall Speech for Lou Reed, Article author: Laurie Anderson, Date on website: Apr 19, 2015, Website description: News and commentary about music and culture. (Accessed rollingstone.com on October 13, 2025) link ↩︎
- Website: Reddit, Subreddit Name: tipofmytongue, Article title: [TOMT] the quote “Every man has two deaths. The last day he breathes and the last day someone says his name”, Commentator Name: ozymandius5, Date on website: January 26, 2016, Website description: Discussion forum. (Accessed reddit.com on October 10, 2025) link ↩︎