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Ashes Quotes

What survives the burning, and what doesn't.

This collection ranges from the literal, the theory that Hiroshima's heat turned people to ash almost instantly, to the figurative, a new identity rising out of the ashes of an old, publicly lost one.

What a couple. I'm consumed into ashes. And he's always raking up the ashes and setting them on fire again.

Quotes by Agnes Smedley

Of thousands of others, nearer the centre of the explosion, there was no trace. They vanished. The theory in Hiroshima is that the atomic heat was so great that they burned instantly to ashes - except that there were no...

Quotes by Wilfred Burchett

No ashes are lighter than those of incense, and few things burn out sooner.

Quotes by Walter Savage Landor

I always thought I had a difficult childhood 'til I saw the film 'Angela's Ashes'.

Quotes by Roland Orzabal

Destruction Quotes

I rarely, if ever, had another book in mind while I was writing the previous book. Each book starts from ashes, really.

Philip Roth

Out of the ashes of Sara Whitehead rose Melissa Stern. Out of the ashes of Mary Beth Whitehead, there were pieces lost.

Quotes by Mary Beth Whitehead

Glory comes too late, after one as been reduced to ashes.

Quotes by Marcus Valerius Martial

Glory paid to our ashes comes too late.

Quotes by Marcus Valerius Martial

Dear friends of Haiti, we are indeed on the right track. Slowly but surely we are rising from the ashes.

Quotes by Laurent Lamothe

Emotion Quotes

Trent Bridge, 2013, is my favourite Test. An Ashes opener and England won a thriller by 14 runs. I managed to take ten wickets, which helps.

Quotes by James Anderson

There is nothing quite like an Ashes trip Down Under.

Quotes by James Anderson

Leaders should lead as far as they can and then vanish. Their ashes should not choke the fire they have lit.

Quotes by H. G. Wells

I heard a lot about Ian Botham's Ashes, in 1981. Everybody still talks about his performance.

Quotes by Dinesh Karthik

Mr. Burns comes out and flips cigar ashes on his shoes, and makes up about 90 percent of what you hear.

Quotes by Bobby Darin

Loss Quotes

I had been playing for a while, and I asked Louisville Slugger to send me a dozen flame treated bats. But when I got it, I realized they had sent me a box of ashes.

Quotes by Bob Uecker

I'm like a phoenix. I rise from the ashes.

Quotes by Bess Myerson

The Ashes have been hard, but you take the accolades when they come along.

Quotes by Andrew Flintoff

Frequently Asked Questions

What themes tie these ashes quotes together?
Loss and what follows it, whether that's the literal devastation described at Hiroshima or the more figurative idea of a new identity forming out of an old one's ruins.
Why do readers search for quotes about ashes?
Ashes work as a natural symbol for endings and rebirth both, so people look for them around grief, memorials, or simply describing something that didn't survive intact.
Is there a quote here referencing Hiroshima?
Yes, one recounts the theory that people nearer the center of the explosion were burned so completely by the heat that no trace of them remained beyond ash.
Does any quote use ashes as a symbol of rebuilding rather than loss?
One does, describing a new identity, Melissa Stern, rising out of the ashes of an old one, Sara Whitehead, even as parts of the earlier self were lost for good.
Where can I read more quotes about loss and grief?
The Loss quotes page covers that territory more broadly.

There's also a shorter, sadder note about incense burning lightest of all, and the reminder that Memory's glory tends to arrive only after it's too late to matter.