the meaning of this sentence

[amata]

Hi everybody,

I'm exhausted understanding the sentence below, please help me.

"He who dies before he dies does not die when he dies. "

Thanks a lot.

[TheParser]

Hi everybody,

I'm exhausted understanding the sentence below, please help me.

"He who dies before he dies does not die when he dies. "

Thanks a lot.

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Amata:

(1) You will certainly receive a lot of interesting replies!!!

(2) Here is my take:

(a) The last part ("does not die when he dies") might mean

that he does not die when he dies because he -- in the

first part of the sentence-- has already died (in a non-physical

way).

(b) The first part ("He who dies before he dies") might mean something

like:

Let's say that Tom knows that he should do something. But he doesn't

do it because he is afraid. He is afraid of what people will say or what

the government will do to him. So he keeps his head down and ignores

what he knows that he should not ignore. In a sense, then, he has

died. There is this saying from Shakespeare:

"Cowards die many times before their deaths. The valiant

never taste of death but once."


James