--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: People disappear when they die. Their…" description: "\"“People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of the..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa7/diane-setterfield-1008_books_people-disappear-when-they-die-their-voi_2444555.jpg" --- # People disappear when they die. Their voice, their… ![“People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continue to…” quote by Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa7/diane-setterfield-1008_books_people-disappear-when-they-die-their-voi_2444555.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa7/diane-setterfield-1008_books_people-disappear-when-they-die-their-voi_2444555.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/aa7/diane-setterfield-1008_books_people-disappear-when-they-die-their-voi_2444555.jpg) > ““People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continue to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humor, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in the ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. It is a kind of magic.”” [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Writing preserves a person's essence, allowing the living to engage with the dead through text. **In simple terms:** Stories keep people alive. Key Takeaway Read and cherish written legacies. Themes memory legacy immortality Mood nostalgic contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - grieving - education - literary analysis - family history Key Concepts narrative power cultural transmission Questions to Reflect On - How does a book change your view of its author? - What stories have shaped your sense of self? A Different Perspective Written words can be misinterpreted or incomplete. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Tone Of Voice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tone-of-voice/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) ## Related quotes > [Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in in ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/like-flies-in-amber-like-corpses-frozen-in-in-ice-that-which/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/people-disappear-when-they-die-their-voice-their-laughter-the-warmth/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“Their bodies were like corpses ready for embalming, from which all innards likely to rot had already been removed. Superfluous emotions like curiosity, fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ismail-kadar/their-bodies-were-like-corpses-ready-for-embalming-from-which-all/) [Ismail Kadare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ismail-kadar/) > [“I recognised a Swiss doctor whom I’d seen at a lot of races. I knew that she also worked in a mortuary. I remember…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charly-wegelius/i-recognised-a-swiss-doctor-whom-i-d-seen-at-a-lot-of-races-i-knew/) [Charly Wegelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charly-wegelius/) > [The temples of those who deny the Real Presence are like corpses. The Lord was taken away and we do not know where they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-mauriac/the-temples-of-those-who-deny-the-real-presence-are-like-corpses-the/) [Francois Mauriac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-mauriac/) > [“Sometimes she was seized with hallucinations and thought she was buried in some vault together with a lot of puppet-like corpses which nodded their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mile-zola/sometimes-she-was-seized-with-hallucinations-and-thought-she-was/) [Émile Zola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mile-zola/) > [“I don’t like corpses in that way unless they’ve been reanimated,” said Jack. “Corpses are incapable of offering informed consent, and are hence no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seanan-mcguire/i-don-t-like-corpses-in-that-way-unless-they-ve-been-reanimated-said/) [Seanan McGuire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seanan-mcguire/) > [Men without joy seem like corpses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathe-kollwitz/men-without-joy-seem-like-corpses/) [Kathe Kollwitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathe-kollwitz/) > [“Were all stars to disappear and die, I should learn to look at an empty sky And feel its total dark sublime, Though this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-h-auden-2/were-all-stars-to-disappear-and-die-i-should-learn-to-look-at-an/) [W.H. Auden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-h-auden-2/) > [“They do not disappear when they die. They leave us their strength.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/heidi-r-kling/they-do-not-disappear-when-they-die-they-leave-us-their-strength/) [Heidi R. Kling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/heidi-r-kling/) > [“And in a mad trance Strike with our spirit's knife Invulnerable nothings We decay Like corpses in a charnel Fear & Grief Convulse is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/percy-bysshe-shelley/and-in-a-mad-trance-strike-with-our-spirit-s-knife-invulnerable/) [Percy Bysshe Shelley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/percy-bysshe-shelley/) > [“My job is not to sell the books - my father does that - but to look after them. Every so often I take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/my-job-is-not-to-sell-the-books-my-father-does-that-but-to-look-after/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“The other rooms were thick with the corpses of suffocated words.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/the-other-rooms-were-thick-with-the-corpses-of-suffocated-words/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [Why can't everything stay the same. Where there is no change. Where people don't die. Where you won't age. Where there isn't a past…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karina-escobar/why-can-t-everything-stay-the-same-where-there-is-no-change-where/) [Karina Escobar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karina-escobar/) > [“that there is but a certain limit of time appointed unto thee, which if thou shalt not make use of to calm and allay…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcus-aurelius/that-there-is-but-a-certain-limit-of-time-appointed-unto-thee-which/) [Marcus Aurelius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcus-aurelius/) ## More by Diane Setterfield > [“They are more real than the books on the shelves, books that are sketched with the barest hint of a line here and there,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/they-are-more-real-than-the-books-on-the-shelves-books-that-are/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“Margaret Lea.” “The biographer.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/margaret-lea-the-biographer/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“He was the first of my ghosts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/he-was-the-first-of-my-ghosts/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“It was like living entirely inside a book.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/it-was-like-living-entirely-inside-a-book/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“Then something rang a bell in his mind. What”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/then-something-rang-a-bell-in-his-mind-what/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [What better way to get to know someone than through her choice and treatment of books?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/what-better-way-to-get-to-know-someone-than-through-her-choice-and/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life, and there has never been a time when reading…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/i-have-always-been-a-reader-i-have-read-at-every-stage-of-my-life-and/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“Yesterday or the day before, while I had been going about my business, quietly and in private, some unknown person—some stranger—had gone to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/yesterday-or-the-day-before-while-i-had-been-going-about-my-business/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“the Missus stood like a ghost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/the-missus-stood-like-a-ghost/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“But perhaps the answer is to stop writing altogether, for when I do write, even now as I write this very sentence, this very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/but-perhaps-the-answer-is-to-stop-writing-altogether-for-when-i-do/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [Our clients' faces, with the customary outward paleness and inner glow of the book lover.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/our-clients-faces-with-the-customary-outward-paleness-and-inner-glow/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [“He felt something move in his chest, as though an organ had been removed and something unfamiliar left in its place. A sentiment he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/he-felt-something-move-in-his-chest-as-though-an-organ-had-been/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [Still in my coat and hat, I sank onto the stair to read the letter. (I never read without making sure I am in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/still-in-my-coat-and-hat-i-sank-onto-the-stair-to-read-the-letter-i/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Books are for me, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/i-still-believe-in-stories-i-still-forget-myself-when-i-am-in-the/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) > [Of course I loved books more than people. Of course I valued "Jane Eyre" over the anonymous stranger...Of course all of Shakespeare was worth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-setterfield/of-course-i-loved-books-more-than-people-of-course-i-valued-jane-eyre/) [Diane Setterfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) [Explore all 292 Diane Setterfield quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-setterfield/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“People disappear when they die. Their voice, their laughter, the warmth of their breath. Their flesh. Eventually their bones. All living memory of them ceases. This is both dreadful and natural. Yet for some there is an exception to this annihilation. For in the books they write they continue to exist. We can rediscover them. Their humor, their tone of voice, their moods. Through the written word they can anger you or make you happy. They can comfort you. They can perplex you. They can alter you. All this, even though they are dead. Like flies in amber, like corpses frozen in the ice, that which according to the laws of nature should pass away is, by the miracle of ink on paper, preserved. 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