--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I would not that death should take me…" description: "\"I would not that death should take me asleep. I would not have him merely seize me, and only declare me to be dead, but win me, and overcome me. When I..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/john-donne-933_death_i-would-not-that-death-should-take-me-as_2040323.png" --- # I would not that death should take me asleep. I would not… ![“I would not that death should take me asleep. I would not have him merely seize me, and only declare me to be dead, but win me, and overcome me. When I must shipwreck, I would do it in a sea, where mine impotency might have some excuse; not in a sullen weedy lake, where I could not have so much as…” quote by John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/john-donne-933_death_i-would-not-that-death-should-take-me-as_2040323.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/john-donne-933_death_i-would-not-that-death-should-take-me-as_2040323.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3bf/john-donne-933_death_i-would-not-that-death-should-take-me-as_2040323.png) > “I would not that death should take me asleep. I would not have him merely seize me, and only declare me to be dead, but win me, and overcome me. When I must shipwreck, I would do it in a sea, where mine impotency might have some excuse; not in a sullen weedy lake, where I could not have so much as exercise for my swimming.” [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. He wishes death to be an active, purposeful struggle rather than a passive surrender, seeking agency even in demise. **In simple terms:** He wants to fight death, not just be taken. Key Takeaway Embrace agency, even in endings. Themes mortality agency struggle Mood reflective somber Type philosophical poetic When to use this quote - battle with illness - facing terminal disease - confronting personal limits Key Concepts existentialism willpower Questions to Reflect On - How can one find purpose when confronting mortality? - What does agency mean in the face of death? A Different Perspective Death may still be inevitable despite resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Death Asleep](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death-asleep-3793966/) [Excuse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/excuse/) [Exercise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/exercise/) [Lakes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lakes/) [Might](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/might/) [Mines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mines/) [Overcome Shipwreck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/overcome-shipwreck-3793964/) [Overcoming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/overcoming/) [Sea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sea/) [Sea Impotency](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sea-impotency-3793965/) [Shipwreck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shipwreck/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Sullen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sullen/) [Swimming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/swimming/) [Take me](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/take-me/) [Winning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/winning/) ## Related quotes > [Take me to you, imprison me, for I, except you enthrall me, never shall be free, nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/take-me-to-you-imprison-me-for-i-except-you-enthrall-me-never-shall/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [The spleen is seldom felt where Flora reigns; The low'ring eye, the petulance, the frown, And sullen sadness, that o'ershade, distort, And mar the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-cowper/the-spleen-is-seldom-felt-where-flora-reigns-the-low-ring-eye-the/) [William Cowper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-cowper/) > [She is a loner, too bright for the slutty girls and too savage for the bright girls, haunting the edges and corners of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-catton/she-is-a-loner-too-bright-for-the-slutty-girls-and-too-savage-for-the/) [Eleanor Catton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-catton/) > [Things are sullen, and will be as they are, whatever we think them or wish them to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-cudworth/things-are-sullen-and-will-be-as-they-are-whatever-we-think-them-or/) [Ralph Cudworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-cudworth/) > [Now small fowls flew screaming over the yet yawning gulf; a sullen white surf beat against its steep sides; then all collapsed; and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/now-small-fowls-flew-screaming-over-the-yet-yawning-gulf-a-sullen/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God, deliver me from sullen saints.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teresa-of-vila/god-deliver-me-from-sullen-saints/) [Teresa of Avila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teresa-of-vila/) > [“There was a lot of Sullen Malarkey on John's part.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-echols/there-was-a-lot-of-sullen-malarkey-on-john-s-part/) [Jennifer Echols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-echols/) > [There is a time of life somewhere between the sullen fugues of adolescence and the retrenchments of middle age when human nature becomes so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-hoagland/there-is-a-time-of-life-somewhere-between-the-sullen-fugues-of/) [Edward Hoagland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-hoagland/) > [When I am feeling depressed and anxious sullen all you have to do is take off your clothes and all is wiped away revealing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-o-hara/when-i-am-feeling-depressed-and-anxious-sullen-all-you-have-to-do-is/) [Frank O'Hara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-o-hara/) > [I desire Virtue, though I love her not- I have no faith in her when she is got: I fear that she will bind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-wickham/i-desire-virtue-though-i-love-her-not-i-have-no-faith-in-her-when-she/) [Anna Wickham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-wickham/) > [ What would it mean in practice to eliminate all the 'negative people' from one's life \[as demanded by motivational speaker J.P. 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Less base the fear of death than fear of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-young/britannia-s-shame-there-took-her-gloomy-flight-on-wing-impetuous-a/) [Edward Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-young/) > [“I doubt taking in a sullen, bitter, teenage girl with more issues than National Geographic is at the center of the vision board for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katja-millay/i-doubt-taking-in-a-sullen-bitter-teenage-girl-with-more-issues-than/) [Katja Millay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katja-millay/) ## More by John Donne > [Our critical day is not the very day of our death; but the whole course of our life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/our-critical-day-is-not-the-very-day-of-our-death-but-the-whole/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [But I do nothing upon myself, and yet I am my own executioner.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/but-i-do-nothing-upon-myself-and-yet-i-am-my-own-executioner/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/all-mankind-is-of-one-author-and-is-one-volume-when-one-man-dies-one/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [We study health, and we deliberate upon our meats and drink and air and exercises, and we hew and we polish every stone that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/we-study-health-and-we-deliberate-upon-our-meats-and-drink-and-air/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Commemoration of Pandita Mary Ramabai, Translator of the Scriptures, 1922 A memory of yesterday's pleasures, a fear of tomorrow's dangers, a straw under my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-donne/commemoration-of-pandita-mary-ramabai-translator-of-the-scriptures/) [John Donne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-donne/) > [Various content To your eyes, ears, and tongue, and every part. 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