--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: For those who live neither with religious…" description: "\"For those who live neither with religious consolations about death nor with a sense of death (or of anything else) as natural, death is the obscene mys..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/161/susan-sontag-332_affront_for-those-who-live-neither-with-religiou_2389042.jpg" --- # For those who live neither with religious consolations… ![“For those who live neither with religious consolations about death nor with a sense of death (or of anything else) as natural, death is the obscene mystery, the ultimate affront, the thing that cannot be controlled. It can only be denied.” quote by Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/161/susan-sontag-332_affront_for-those-who-live-neither-with-religiou_2389042.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/161/susan-sontag-332_affront_for-those-who-live-neither-with-religiou_2389042.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/161/susan-sontag-332_affront_for-those-who-live-neither-with-religiou_2389042.jpg) > “For those who live neither with religious consolations about death nor with a sense of death (or of anything else) as natural, death is the obscene mystery, the ultimate affront, the thing that cannot be controlled. It can only be denied.” [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Death is portrayed as an incomprehensible, uncontrollable mystery that defies rational consolation. **In simple terms:** Death is an unknowable, unsettling mystery. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty about death. Themes existentialism mortality philosophy Mood reflective serious Type philosophical thought‑provoking When to use this quote - grief counseling - philosophical debate - personal reflection Key Concepts nihilism theodicy Questions to Reflect On - What does confronting death reveal about life? - How does denial affect coping? A Different Perspective Denial can lead to fear rather than understanding. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Affront](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affront/) [Consolation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/consolation/) [Controlled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/controlled/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Death Natural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death-natural-343859/) [Death Obscene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death-obscene-5943301/) [Denied](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denied/) [Dying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dying/) [Impermanence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impermanence/) [Mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystery/) [Natural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural/) [Natural death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural-death/) [Obscene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obscene/) [Obscene Mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obscene-mystery-5943302/) [Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious/) [Sense Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense-death-491079/) [Ultimate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ultimate/) ## Related quotes > [I support the protection of life from conception to natural death. But a natural death for a murderer is a death on the gallows.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/janusz-korwin-mikke/i-support-the-protection-of-life-from-conception-to-natural-death-but/) [Janusz Korwin-Mikke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/janusz-korwin-mikke/) > [Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be part of the full expectancy of life. Without an ever-present…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-spark/death-when-it-approaches-ought-not-to-take-one-by-surprise-it-should/) [Muriel Spark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-spark/) > [“Without an ever-present sense of death life is insipid.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-spark/without-an-ever-present-sense-of-death-life-is-insipid/) [Muriel Spark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-spark/) > [“I tell myself now, that ever since I was little my sense of social decency has been more developed than my sense of death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/i-tell-myself-now-that-ever-since-i-was-little-my-sense-of-social/) [Gabriel García Márquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [Death can come at any moment. You could die this afternoon; you could die tomorrow morning; you could die on your way to work;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-halifax/death-can-come-at-any-moment-you-could-die-this-afternoon-you-could/) [Joan Halifax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-halifax/) > [If I had my life over again I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practice, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-spark/if-i-had-my-life-over-again-i-should-form-the-habit-of-nightly/) [Muriel Spark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-spark/) > [The sense of death is most in apprehension, And the poor beetle, that we tread upon, In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/the-sense-of-death-is-most-in-apprehension-and-the-poor-beetle-that/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [To go abroad has something of the same sense that death brings. I am no longer of ye-what ye say of me is now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/to-go-abroad-has-something-of-the-same-sense-that-death-brings-i-am/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“If I had my life over I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practice, as it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oliver-burkeman/if-i-had-my-life-over-i-should-form-the-habit-of-nightly-composing/) [Oliver Burkeman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oliver-burkeman/) > [In one sense there is no death. The life of a soul on earth lasts beyond departure. You will always feel that life touching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angelo-patri/in-one-sense-there-is-no-death-the-life-of-a-soul-on-earth-lasts/) [Angelo Patri](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angelo-patri/) > [“I think it's a mistake to lose one's sense of death, even one's fear of death. Isn't death the boundary we need? Doesn't it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/don-delillo/i-think-it-s-a-mistake-to-lose-one-s-sense-of-death-even-one-s-fear/) [Don DeLillo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/don-delillo/) > [“my sense of social decency has been more developed than my sense of death. For”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/my-sense-of-social-decency-has-been-more-developed-than-my-sense-of/) [Gabriel García Márquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [The sense of death is most in apprehension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/the-sense-of-death-is-most-in-apprehension/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [ “To be more precise... death is \[contrary to\] God, and if death is natural, if it is the ultimate truth about life and about… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-schmemann/to-be-more-precise-death-is-contrary-to-god-and-if-death-is-natural/) [Alexander Schmemann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-schmemann/) > [Death is natural and necessary, but not just. It is a random force of nature; survival is equally accidental. Each loss is an occasion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-mcbryde-johnson/death-is-natural-and-necessary-but-not-just-it-is-a-random-force-of/) [Harriet McBryde Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-mcbryde-johnson/) ## More by Susan Sontag > [the appetite for thinking must be regulated, as all sensible people know, for it may stifle one's life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-appetite-for-thinking-must-be-regulated-as-all-sensible-people/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [We are ruled by quotations.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/we-are-ruled-by-quotations/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Unfortunately, moral beauty in art - like physical beauty in a person - is extremely perishable. It is nowhere so durable as artistic or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/unfortunately-moral-beauty-in-art-like-physical-beauty-in-a-person-is/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Like the collector, the photographer is animated by a passion that, even when it appears to be for the present, is linked to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/like-the-collector-the-photographer-is-animated-by-a-passion-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [“Why not eliminate schooling between age 12-16? It’s biologically + psychologically too turbulent a time to be cooped up inside, made to sit all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/why-not-eliminate-schooling-between-age-12-16-it-s-biologically/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/to-photograph-people-is-to-violate-them-by-seeing-them-as-they-never/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [One set of messages of the society we live in is: Consume. Grow. Do what you want. Amuse yourselves. The very working of this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/one-set-of-messages-of-the-society-we-live-in-is-consume-grow-do-what/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Currently intellectuals in Western Europe and North America are extremely demoralized and shaken by the rise of a virulent conservative tendency (which some have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/currently-intellectuals-in-western-europe-and-north-america-are/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [With the modern diseases (once TB, now cancer) the romantic idea that the disease expresses the character is invariably extended to assert that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/with-the-modern-diseases-once-tb-now-cancer-the-romantic-idea-that/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/as-objects-of-contemplation-images-of-the-atrocious-can-answer-to/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The creative phase of an idea coincides with the period during which it insists, cantankerously, on its boundaries, on what makes it different; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-creative-phase-of-an-idea-coincides-with-the-period-during-which/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/photographs-objectify-they-turn-an-event-or-a-person-into-something/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I'm not interested in giving aid and comfort to the neo­-Conservatives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/i-m-not-interested-in-giving-aid-and-comfort-to-the-neo-conservatives/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [The feminist movement has been important to me because it's made me feel less odd and also because it has made me understand some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/the-feminist-movement-has-been-important-to-me-because-it-s-made-me/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) [Explore all 644 Susan Sontag quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More Affront quotes > [Self-ruled Taiwan cannot be expected to accept such an affront to the legitimacy of its government and the self-determination of the Taiwanese people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/todd-akin/self-ruled-taiwan-cannot-be-expected-to-accept-such-an-affront-to-the/) [Todd Akin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/todd-akin/) > [Old, that's an affront no woman can well bear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-de-cervantes/old-that-s-an-affront-no-woman-can-well-bear/) [Miguel de Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-de-cervantes/) > [A government run by billionaires for billionaires is an affront to freedom and morality and humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-moore/a-government-run-by-billionaires-for-billionaires-is-an-affront-to/) [Michael Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-moore/) > [I'm achingly aware of my own limitations as both part of the human race and as an individual. I'm just, casting this out that,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thom-yorke/i-m-achingly-aware-of-my-own-limitations-as-both-part-of-the-human/) [Thom Yorke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thom-yorke/) > [Despite my best efforts, I'm not quite perfect. Let's just say I'm like one of those Hopi blankets where they leave a tiny flaw…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-lancaster/despite-my-best-efforts-i-m-not-quite-perfect-let-s-just-say-i-m-like/) [Jen Lancaster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-lancaster/) > [Torture anywhere is an affront to human dignity everywhere... I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-w-bush/torture-anywhere-is-an-affront-to-human-dignity-everywhere-i-call-on/) [George W. Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-w-bush/) > [Black people in America have to, for their own protection, develop a defense mechanism, and I just grew terribly tired of it. When you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-robinson/black-people-in-america-have-to-for-their-own-protection-develop-a/) [Randall Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-robinson/) > [The filibuster is an affront to commonly understood democratic norms, but then so is the Senate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hendrik-hertzberg/the-filibuster-is-an-affront-to-commonly-understood-democratic-norms/) [Hendrik Hertzberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hendrik-hertzberg/) > [He's never quite got the trick of conversation, tending to hear in dissenting views, however mild, a kind of affront, an invitation to mortal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/he-s-never-quite-got-the-trick-of-conversation-tending-to-hear-in/) [Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/) > [And old affront will stir the heart Through years of rankling pain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-ingelow/and-old-affront-will-stir-the-heart-through-years-of-rankling-pain/) [Jean Ingelow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-ingelow/) > [The first and last lesson of religion is, 'The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal.' It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-first-and-last-lesson-of-religion-is-the-things-that-are-seen-are/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“Usitukane kamwe. Pigana itakapobidi.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/enock-maregesi/usitukane-kamwe-pigana-itakapobidi/) [Enock Maregesi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/enock-maregesi/) > [“Any path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-castaneda/any-path-is-only-a-path-and-there-is-no-affront-to-oneself-or-to/) [Carlos Castaneda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-castaneda/) > [“It is an affront to our present, and it is a bad prescription for our future. History cannot be changed. It cannot be moved…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-landrieu/it-is-an-affront-to-our-present-and-it-is-a-bad-prescription-for-our/) [Mitch Landrieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-landrieu/) > [A great mind will neither give an affront nor bear it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-home-lord-kames/a-great-mind-will-neither-give-an-affront-nor-bear-it/) [Henry Home, Lord Kames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-home-lord-kames/) [Browse all 106 Affront quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/affront/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "For those who live neither with religious consolations about death nor with a sense of death (or of anything else) as natural, death is the obscene mystery, the ultimate affront, the thing that cannot be controlled. It can only be denied.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susan Sontag" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/for-those-who-live-neither-with-religious-consolations-about-death/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Affront" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/for-those-who-live-neither-with-religious-consolations-about-death/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/161/susan-sontag-332_affront_for-those-who-live-neither-with-religiou_2389042.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/161/susan-sontag-332_affront_for-those-who-live-neither-with-religiou_2389042.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/161/susan-sontag-332_affront_for-those-who-live-neither-with-religiou_2389042.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For those who live neither with religious consolations about death nor with a sense of death (or of anything…” — Susan Sontag", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Susan Sontag", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "For those who live neither with...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/for-those-who-live-neither-with-religious-consolations-about-death/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/for-those-who-live-neither-with-religious-consolations-about-death/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```