--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Man is reluctant to accept that his life…" description: "\"“Man is reluctant to accept that his life has come to a conclusion in that most important respect, that his hopes have been fulfilled. He hesitates to ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d93/ivan-klima-24809_close-to-death_man-is-reluctant-to-accept-that-his-life_1382194.png" --- # Man is reluctant to accept that his life has come to a… ![“Man is reluctant to accept that his life has come to a conclusion in that most important respect, that his hopes have been fulfilled. He hesitates to look death in the face, and there is little that comes so close to death as fulfilled love.” quote by Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d93/ivan-klima-24809_close-to-death_man-is-reluctant-to-accept-that-his-life_1382194.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d93/ivan-klima-24809_close-to-death_man-is-reluctant-to-accept-that-his-life_1382194.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d93/ivan-klima-24809_close-to-death_man-is-reluctant-to-accept-that-his-life_1382194.png) > ““Man is reluctant to accept that his life has come to a conclusion in that most important respect, that his hopes have been fulfilled. He hesitates to look death in the face, and there is little that comes so close to death as fulfilled love.”” [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. People resist acknowledging life's end and the fulfillment of hopes, fearing death, yet love fulfilled comes closest to confronting death. **In simple terms:** Love fulfilled meets death. Key Takeaway Accept love’s completion, face mortality. Themes mortality love fulfillment Mood somber thoughtful Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - end‑of‑life counseling - relationship therapy - grief support - personal reflection Key Concepts existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How does love change our view of death? - What does it mean to fully fulfill hopes? A Different Perspective May cause existential anxiety. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Close to death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/close-to-death/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) ## Related quotes > [...there is little that comes so close to death as fulfilled love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/there-is-little-that-comes-so-close-to-death-as-fulfilled-love/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [He who hesitates in a revolving door is crushed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/he-who-hesitates-in-a-revolving-door-is-crushed/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [He who hesitates at war, he who hesitates has lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/he-who-hesitates-at-war-he-who-hesitates-has-lost/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [He who hesitates, procreates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/he-who-hesitates-procreates/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [He who hesitates is lunch. Life's risky near the bottom of the food chain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/he-who-hesitates-is-lunch-life-s-risky-near-the-bottom-of-the-food/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [He who hesitates is probably right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/he-who-hesitates-is-probably-right/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Can we go somewhere?" I ask. "Let's go somewhere off in the woods and I'll show you." He hesitates, of course. What if I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-hand/can-we-go-somewhere-i-ask-let-s-go-somewhere-off-in-the-woods-and-i/) [Cynthia Hand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cynthia-hand/) > [A science which hesitates to forget its founders is lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/a-science-which-hesitates-to-forget-its-founders-is-lost/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [In the digital world, he who hesitates is abandoned. So you have to generate 3-D excitement with as many devices as you can find.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-stringer/in-the-digital-world-he-who-hesitates-is-abandoned-so-you-have-to/) [Howard Stringer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-stringer/) > [“...when life still hesitates to touch us, when neither duty nor guilt dares lay a hand upon us”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-mann/when-life-still-hesitates-to-touch-us-when-neither-duty-nor-guilt/) [Thomas Mann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-mann/) > [“A science that hesitates to forget its founders is lost.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/a-science-that-hesitates-to-forget-its-founders-is-lost/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [He who hesitates is lost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/he-who-hesitates-is-lost/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Man is slow because he hesitates”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lance-conrad/man-is-slow-because-he-hesitates/) [Lance Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lance-conrad/) > [“I've said it before, love, an Im sorry I have to say it again, but you do not understand the choices I have to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tahereh-mafi/i-ve-said-it-before-love-an-im-sorry-i-have-to-say-it-again-but-you/) [Tahereh Mafi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tahereh-mafi/) > [If you wait to approach her, you might be going home alone. It's what they mean by, He who hesitates, masturbates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/if-you-wait-to-approach-her-you-might-be-going-home-alone-it-s-what/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Ivan Klíma > [“..the writer’s obsession – the desire to know and communicate, or, rather, to know everything so as to communicate with the greatest degree of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/the-writer-s-obsession-the-desire-to-know-and-communicate-or-rather/) [Ivan Klima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [“Anyone longing to become a writer, for even a few moments of his life, will vainly weave fantastic events unless he has experienced that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/anyone-longing-to-become-a-writer-for-even-a-few-moments-of-his-life/) [Ivan Klima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [“My father also told me that people had always suffered from being tied to the ground, from not being able to detach themselves from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/my-father-also-told-me-that-people-had-always-suffered-from-being/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [Fear is the touch of death, death reminding us of its existence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/fear-is-the-touch-of-death-death-reminding-us-of-its-existence/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [The world is like an enormous set of scales. When evil begins to outweigh good, angels cram themselves in on the lighter side. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/the-world-is-like-an-enormous-set-of-scales-when-evil-begins-to/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [A picture was a motionless record of motion. An arrested representation of life. A picture was the kiss of death pretending to possess immutability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/a-picture-was-a-motionless-record-of-motion-an-arrested/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [“The halcyon days of childhood, a time when everything lay open before him, when the most minor episodes could be construed as events and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/the-halcyon-days-of-childhood-a-time-when-everything-lay-open-before/) [Ivan Klima](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [Justice was revenge wrapping itself in a cloak of high principle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/justice-was-revenge-wrapping-itself-in-a-cloak-of-high-principle/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [...there is little that comes so close to death as fulfilled love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/there-is-little-that-comes-so-close-to-death-as-fulfilled-love/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [If we lose our memory, we lose ourselves. Forgetting is one of the symptoms of death. Without memory we cease to be human beings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/if-we-lose-our-memory-we-lose-ourselves-forgetting-is-one-of-the/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [“The Apocalypse can take different forms. The least dramatic, at first sight, is the one in which man perishes under an avalanche of useless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/the-apocalypse-can-take-different-forms-the-least-dramatic-at-first/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [“It needs a lot of courage to admit to an action that one is ashamed of and knows to be wrong. One's reluctance to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/it-needs-a-lot-of-courage-to-admit-to-an-action-that-one-is-ashamed/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [“Growing numbers of people, in their work, come into contact with a diminishing fragment of reality; as their world shrinks, so does their language.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/growing-numbers-of-people-in-their-work-come-into-contact-with-a/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [I realised the amazing power of literature and of the human imagination generally: to make the dead live and to stop the living from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/i-realised-the-amazing-power-of-literature-and-of-the-human/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) > [If you tell anything to a woman ... it's like putting it in the papers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivan-klima/if-you-tell-anything-to-a-woman-it-s-like-putting-it-in-the-papers/) [Ivan Klíma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) [Explore all 23 Ivan Klíma quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivan-klima/) ## More Close to death quotes > [“There is lucidity inspired by the nearness of the grave:to be close to death is to see clearly”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/there-is-lucidity-inspired-by-the-nearness-of-the-grave-to-be-close/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“A great melancholy was hanging in the air, giving their love a more languid, more tender feeling. It was like the love one feels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/a-great-melancholy-was-hanging-in-the-air-giving-their-love-a-more/) [Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/) > [“I had never been so close to death before. For a long time, as I lay there trying to clear my mind, I couldn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-brink/i-had-never-been-so-close-to-death-before-for-a-long-time-as-i-lay/) [Andre Brink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-brink/) > [For the first time in a long time I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/for-the-first-time-in-a-long-time-i-thought-about-maman-i-felt-as-if/) [Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/) > [I came so close to death in the search of love...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/i-came-so-close-to-death-in-the-search-of-love/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [In Mexico, you're close to death all the time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/guillermo-del-toro/in-mexico-you-re-close-to-death-all-the-time/) [Guillermo del Toro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/guillermo-del-toro/) > [I became entirely given over to extreme dread. The fear was so powerful that it seemed to make my personality completely evaporate... 'Whitley' ceased…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/whitley-strieber/i-became-entirely-given-over-to-extreme-dread-the-fear-was-so/) [Whitley Strieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/whitley-strieber/) > [You know when you read that someone has to leave a show or a tour because they had 'nervous exhaustion'? Well, I had one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-johansen/you-know-when-you-read-that-someone-has-to-leave-a-show-or-a-tour/) [David Johansen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-johansen/) > [There is nothing compared to the feeling of losing life. The moment when you are close to death is nothing but a profound experience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/manisha-koirala/there-is-nothing-compared-to-the-feeling-of-losing-life-the-moment/) [Manisha Koirala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/manisha-koirala/) > [“Is it not strange how quickly one can become detached from everything? How empty life appears when one is close to death!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/georges-rodenbach/is-it-not-strange-how-quickly-one-can-become-detached-from-everything/) [Georges Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/georges-rodenbach/) > [“... we absolutely mustn't forget it. We mustn't forget old people with their rotten bodies, old people who are so close to death, something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-barbery/we-absolutely-mustn-t-forget-it-we-mustn-t-forget-old-people-with/) [Muriel Barbery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-barbery/) > [We musn't forget old people with their rotten bodies, old people who are so close to death, something that young people don't want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-barbery/we-musn-t-forget-old-people-with-their-rotten-bodies-old-people-who/) [Muriel Barbery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-barbery/) > [What the meat industry figured out is that you don't need healthy animals to make a profit. Sick animals are more profitable... Factory farms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/what-the-meat-industry-figured-out-is-that-you-don-t-need-healthy/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [“Is it life threatening?” they asked. They said it slightly sotto voce, but you could hear the thirst for sensation right through it: when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/herman-koch/is-it-life-threatening-they-asked-they-said-it-slightly-sotto-voce/) [Herman Koch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/herman-koch/) > [People always speak beautifully when they are in love or close to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/svetlana-alexievich/people-always-speak-beautifully-when-they-are-in-love-or-close-to/) [Svetlana Alexievich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/svetlana-alexievich/) [Browse all 51 Close to death quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/close-to-death/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Man is reluctant to accept that his life has come to a conclusion in that most important respect, that his hopes have been fulfilled. 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