--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Dead men may envy living mites in cheese…" description: "\"Dead men may envy living mites in cheese, Or good germs even. Microbes have their joys, And subdivide, and never come to death.\" — Wilfred Owen" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2d/wilfred-owen-4642_bacteria_dead-men-may-envy-living-mites-in-cheese_1826395.png" --- # Dead men may envy living mites in cheese, Or good germs… ![“Dead men may envy living mites in cheese, Or good germs even. Microbes have their joys, And subdivide, and never come to death.” quote by Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2d/wilfred-owen-4642_bacteria_dead-men-may-envy-living-mites-in-cheese_1826395.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2d/wilfred-owen-4642_bacteria_dead-men-may-envy-living-mites-in-cheese_1826395.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a2d/wilfred-owen-4642_bacteria_dead-men-may-envy-living-mites-in-cheese_1826395.png) > “Dead men may envy living mites in cheese, Or good germs even. Microbes have their joys, And subdivide, and never come to death.” [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Even microscopic life experiences joy and division, yet never truly dies, contrasting human mortality. **In simple terms:** Microbes live, divide, and never die, unlike humans. Key Takeaway Recognize life's continuity beyond human lifespan. Themes mortality microscopic life contrast Mood melancholic contemplative Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - science education - poetry analysis - meditation on death Key Concepts biology philosophy existentialism Questions to Reflect On - What does this say about life's value? - How does scale change our view of death? A Different Perspective Human perspective may overlook microbial significance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bacteria](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bacteria/) [Dead man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dead-man/) [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Envy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/envy/) [Joy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joy/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) ## Related quotes > [Living as if the world out there were somehow separate from us opens the door to the belief system of judgement and the chemical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregg-braden/living-as-if-the-world-out-there-were-somehow-separate-from-us-opens/) [Gregg Braden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregg-braden/) > [My immune system has always been overly welcoming of germs. 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People grow too, and the best bit is that they don't realise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/costa-georgiadis/in-gardens-it-s-not-just-plants-and-insects-and-microbes-that-grow/) [Costa Georgiadis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/costa-georgiadis/) > [What is different and exciting is how much we have learned. We learned we were right that we don't need the chemical model of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-moore-lapp/what-is-different-and-exciting-is-how-much-we-have-learned-we-learned/) [Frances Moore Lappé](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-moore-lapp/) > [There are more microbes per person than the entire population of the world. Imagine that. Per person. 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I can do no service to anybody by agitating for news or making dole over the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/the-war-effects-me-less-than-it-ought-i-can-do-no-service-to-anybody/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Escape? There is one unwatched way: your eyes. O Beauty! Keep me good that secret gate.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/escape-there-is-one-unwatched-way-your-eyes-o-beauty-keep-me-good/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [And by his smile, I knew that sullen hall, By his dead smile I knew we stood in Hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/and-by-his-smile-i-knew-that-sullen-hall-by-his-dead-smile-i-knew-we/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Walking abroad, one is the admiration of all little boys, and meets an approving glance from every eye of elderly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/walking-abroad-one-is-the-admiration-of-all-little-boys-and-meets-an/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Those who, like the beasts, have no such Hope, pass their old age shrouded with an inward gloom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/those-who-like-the-beasts-have-no-such-hope-pass-their-old-age/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [The English say, Yours Truly, and mean it. The Italians say, I kiss your feet, and mean, I kick your head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/the-english-say-yours-truly-and-mean-it-the-italians-say-i-kiss-your/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Ambition may be defined as the willingness to receive any number of hits on the nose.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/ambition-may-be-defined-as-the-willingness-to-receive-any-number-of/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [“These are men whose minds the Dead have ravished. Memory fingers in their hair of murders Multitudinous murders they once witnessed. Wading sloughs of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/these-are-men-whose-minds-the-dead-have-ravished-memory-fingers-in/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [Was it for this the clay grew tall? O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/was-it-for-this-the-clay-grew-tall-o-what-made-fatuous-sunbeams-toil/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [I was a boy when I first realized that the fullest life liveable was a Poet's](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/i-was-a-boy-when-i-first-realized-that-the-fullest-life-liveable-was/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [And some cease feeling Even themselves or for themselves. Dullness best solves The tease and doubt of shelling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/and-some-cease-feeling-even-themselves-or-for-themselves-dullness/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [“Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight sad.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/sleep-mothered-them-and-left-the-twilight-sad/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [After all my years of playing soldiers, and then of reading History, I have almost a mania to be in the East, to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/after-all-my-years-of-playing-soldiers-and-then-of-reading-history-i/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) > [My subject is war, and the pity of war.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilfred-owen/my-subject-is-war-and-the-pity-of-war/) [Wilfred Owen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) [Explore all 108 Wilfred Owen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilfred-owen/) ## More Bacteria quotes > [“Bacteria and viruses were the most effective allies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eduardo-hughes-galeano/bacteria-and-viruses-were-the-most-effective-allies/) [Eduardo Hughes Galeano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eduardo-hughes-galeano/) > [...The large majority of those infectious microbes that cause us so much illness and pain are ANAEROBIC...a big word that means they live and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ed-mccabe/the-large-majority-of-those-infectious-microbes-that-cause-us-so-much/) [Ed McCabe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ed-mccabe/) > [You can't just boss bacteria around like that," said the younger Mrs. Hempstock. 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Eric Drexler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/k-eric-drexler/) > [Nineteen hundred and three will bring great advances in surgery, in the study of bacteria, in the knowledge of the cause and prevention of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-a-edison/nineteen-hundred-and-three-will-bring-great-advances-in-surgery-in/) [Thomas A. Edison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-a-edison/) > [Most people are surprised when they hear my somber figures: we know of 2 million species of plants, animals and microorganisms, and we can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-o-wilson/most-people-are-surprised-when-they-hear-my-somber-figures-we-know-of/) [E. O. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-o-wilson/) > [Harmful bacteria, viruses, calcium-forming micro-organisms, and candida are part of our world. 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