Who said “Annihilation has no terrors for me, because I have already tried it before I was born…”?

Verified

Mark Twain. A published source records them saying or writing it.

Source"Bible Teaching and Religious Practice" (1923), p. 69 of Vol. II of The Complete and Authoritative Edition, 2013, University of California Press

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“Annihilation has no terrors for me, because I have already tried it before I was born --a hundred million years --and I have suffered more in an hour, in this life, than I remember to have suffered in the whole hundred million years put together. There was a peace, a serenity, an absence of all sense of responsibility, an absence of worry, an absence of care, grief, perplexity; and the presence of a deep content and unbroken satisfaction in that hundred million years of holiday which I look back upon with a tender longing and with a grateful desire to resume, when the opportunity comes.”
Verified"Bible Teaching and Religious Practice" (1923), p. 69 of Vol. II of The Complete and Authoritative Edition, 2013, University of California Press · evidenceDeath and Dying
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Cite this quote

For academic work, cite the original where you can: "Bible Teaching and Religious Practice" (1923), p. 69 of Vol. II of The Complete and Authoritative Edition, 2013, University of California Press.

APA

Twain, M. (n.d.). Annihilation has no terrors for me, because I have already tried it before I was born --a hundred million years --and I have suffered more in an hour, in this life, than I remember to have suffered in the whole hundred million years put together. There was a peace, a serenity, an absence of all sense of responsibility, an absence of worry, an absence of care, grief, perplexity; and the presence of a deep content and unbroken satisfaction in that hundred million years of holiday which I look back upon with a tender longing and with a grateful desire to resume, when the opportunity comes. [Quotation]. Famous Quotations Network. Retrieved October 24, 2026, from https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/2688-annihilation-has-no-terrors-for-me-because-i/

MLA

Twain, Mark. “Annihilation has no terrors for me, because I have already tried it before I was born --a hundred million years --and I have suffered more in an hour, in this life, than I remember to have suffered in the whole hundred million years put together. There was a peace, a serenity, an absence of all sense of responsibility, an absence of worry, an absence of care, grief, perplexity; and the presence of a deep content and unbroken satisfaction in that hundred million years of holiday which I look back upon with a tender longing and with a grateful desire to resume, when the opportunity comes.” Famous Quotations Network, https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/2688-annihilation-has-no-terrors-for-me-because-i/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Twain, Mark. “Annihilation has no terrors for me, because I have already tried it before I was born --a hundred million years --and I have suffered more in an hour, in this life, than I remember to have suffered in the whole hundred million years put together. There was a peace, a serenity, an absence of all sense of responsibility, an absence of worry, an absence of care, grief, perplexity; and the presence of a deep content and unbroken satisfaction in that hundred million years of holiday which I look back upon with a tender longing and with a grateful desire to resume, when the opportunity comes.” Famous Quotations Network. Accessed October 24, 2026. https://www.famous-quotations.com/quotes/2688-annihilation-has-no-terrors-for-me-because-i/.