--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Because dead people are just like you and…" description: "\"Because dead people are just like you and me, they still want things. They look at us all the time, and they miss being alive. We have taste and color ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ce/peter-straub-10217_alive_because-dead-people-are-just-like-you-an_755643.jpg" --- # Because dead people are just like you and me, they still… ![“Because dead people are just like you and me, they still want things. They look at us all the time, and they miss being alive. We have taste and color and smell and feelings, and they don’t have any of those things. They stare at us, they don’t miss anything. They really see what’s going on, and…” quote by Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ce/peter-straub-10217_alive_because-dead-people-are-just-like-you-an_755643.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ce/peter-straub-10217_alive_because-dead-people-are-just-like-you-an_755643.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ce/peter-straub-10217_alive_because-dead-people-are-just-like-you-an_755643.jpg) > “Because dead people are just like you and me, they still want things. They look at us all the time, and they miss being alive. We have taste and color and smell and feelings, and they don’t have any of those things. They stare at us, they don’t miss anything. They really see what’s going on, and we hardly ever really see that. We’re too busy thinking about things and getting everything wrong, so we miss ninety percent of what’s happening.” [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The dead observe us, lacking senses, yet they perceive truths we overlook due to our distractions. **In simple terms:** The dead watch, we miss because we’re busy. Key Takeaway Pause to notice what’s around you. Themes death perception distraction truth awareness Mood thoughtful melancholic Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - everyday life - creative work - grief counseling - mindfulness practice Key Concepts existentialism psychology spirituality Questions to Reflect On - What do you overlook when preoccupied? - Can silence reveal hidden truths? A Different Perspective Our focus may distort reality, not just miss it. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alive/) [Color](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/color/) [Dead people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dead-people/) [Feelings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feelings/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [Smell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smell/) [Staring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/staring/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/our-eyes-are-holden-that-we-cannot-see-things-that-stare-us-in-the/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [She cannot possibly be dead, people do not just die](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-green/she-cannot-possibly-be-dead-people-do-not-just-die/) [John Green](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-green/) > [“Dead people are just great. Meet me when you are.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fakeer-ishavardas/dead-people-are-just-great-meet-me-when-you-are/) [Fakeer Ishavardas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fakeer-ishavardas/) > [“she was opposed to books on strict moral grounds, since she had heard that many of them were written by dead people and therefore…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/she-was-opposed-to-books-on-strict-moral-grounds-since-she-had-heard/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [You totally need to watch the news." "Can't." "Why?" "It's too depressing." 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Their suction cups were on the ground, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurt-vonnegut/the-letter-said-that-they-were-two-feet-high-and-green-and-shaped/) [Kurt Vonnegut](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurt-vonnegut/) > [The only thing that can be expected from the next US president is more war, more murder, and more oppression of the gullible American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-craig-roberts/the-only-thing-that-can-be-expected-from-the-next-us-president-is/) [Paul Craig Roberts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-craig-roberts/) > [“A body can't be too partic'lar how they talk 'bout these-yer dead people, Tom.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-body-can-t-be-too-partic-lar-how-they-talk-bout-these-yer-dead/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“what would happen if she'd open her eyes and see only dark and feel satin from the coffin? 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They speak to something deep within…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/human-beings-across-every-culture-i-know-about-require-such-stories/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [God, in the orthodox view, causes famine, plague, and flood. Was God evil? Evil is a convenient fiction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/god-in-the-orthodox-view-causes-famine-plague-and-flood-was-god-evil/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [The world is full of ghosts, and some of them are still people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/the-world-is-full-of-ghosts-and-some-of-them-are-still-people/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [“I know this doesn't make sense, but if we ever did this before, exactly this, with you sitting over there and me here, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/i-know-this-doesn-t-make-sense-but-if-we-ever-did-this-before-exactly/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [“It was incomprehensible to Ricky that anyone could find Milburn boring: if you watched it closely for seventy years, you saw the century at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/it-was-incomprehensible-to-ricky-that-anyone-could-find-milburn/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [My first real breakthrough collided with the last months of Callaghan's Labour government, which had every intention of enjoying my success as much as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/my-first-real-breakthrough-collided-with-the-last-months-of-callaghan/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) > [These days, there are a great many books about childhood trauma and its effects, but at the time all the experts agreed that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-straub/these-days-there-are-a-great-many-books-about-childhood-trauma-and/) [Peter Straub](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) [Explore all 67 Peter Straub quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-straub/) ## More Alive quotes > [I understand that it's the music that keeps me alive... That's my lifeblood. And to give that up for, like, the TV, the cars,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/i-understand-that-it-s-the-music-that-keeps-me-alive-that-s-my/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [I feel very grateful to be alive and well enough to make music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-ant/i-feel-very-grateful-to-be-alive-and-well-enough-to-make-music/) Adam Ant > [I don't crave applause. I'm not one of those guys who comes alive on stage. I'm much more alive at home, I think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-bowie/i-don-t-crave-applause-i-m-not-one-of-those-guys-who-comes-alive-on/) [David Bowie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-bowie/) > [We must master our egoism, and through this mastery, step outside ourselves and educate ourselves in giving. Fasting requires that we rediscover all that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tariq-ramadan/we-must-master-our-egoism-and-through-this-mastery-step-outside/) [Tariq Ramadan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tariq-ramadan/) > [I can't say that there are 'things' that make me come alive. There are thoughts that make me come alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/i-can-t-say-that-there-are-things-that-make-me-come-alive-there-are/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [We're like the wicked witch. 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We, all of us alive today, are the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-krieger/peace-is-an-ongoing-process-it-begins-with-the-first-step-and-it-does/) [David Krieger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-krieger/) > [I think adoption becomes complicated whenever the biological parents are alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-haven/i-think-adoption-becomes-complicated-whenever-the-biological-parents/) [James Haven](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-haven/) > [The pain of love is the pain of being alive. It is a perpetual wound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-duffy/the-pain-of-love-is-the-pain-of-being-alive-it-is-a-perpetual-wound/) [Maureen Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-duffy/) > [I have tried to resign myself, and to console myself; and that, I hope, I may have done imperfectly; but what I cannot firmly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/i-have-tried-to-resign-myself-and-to-console-myself-and-that-i-hope-i/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [If Melanchthon were alive today, he might not weep because of controversies that surround the Lord's Supper, but he might well sorrow because of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erwin-w-lutzer/if-melanchthon-were-alive-today-he-might-not-weep-because-of/) [Erwin W. 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"That is perhaps the most childishly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-goldman/you-re-alive-fezzik-cried-the-man-in-black-sat-immobile-like-a/) [William Goldman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-goldman/) [Browse all 7,282 Alive quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alive/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Because dead people are just like you and me, they still want things. They look at us all the time, and they miss being alive. We have taste and color and smell and feelings, and they don’t have any of those things. They stare at us, they don’t miss anything. They really see what’s going on, and we hardly ever really see that. 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