Death
Boris Pasternak died of lung cancer in his dacha in Peredelkino on the evening of 30 May 1960. He first summoned his sons, and in their presence said, "Who will suffer most because of my death? Who will suffer most? Only Oliusha will, and I haven't had time to do anything for her. The worst thing is that she will suffer." Pasternak's last words were, "I can't hear very well. And there's a mist in front of my eyes. But it will go away, won't it? Don't forget to open the window tomorrow."
Shortly before his death, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church had given Pasternak the last rites. Later, in the strictest secrecy, an Orthodox funeral liturgy, or Panikhida, was offered in the family's dacha.
Read more about this topic: Boris Pasternak
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Do but consider this small dust, here running in the glass,
By atoms moved.
Could you believe that this the body was
Of one that loved?
And in his mistress flame playing like a fly,
Turned to cinders by her eye?
Yes, and in death as life unblest,
To havet expressed,
Even ashes of lovers find no rest.”
—Ben Jonson (15721637)
“Now they heap the funeral pyre,
And the torch of death they light;
Ah! tis hard to die by fire!”
—William Makepeace Thackeray (18111863)
“All good biography, as all good fiction, comes down to the study of original sin, of our inherent disposition to choose death when we ought to choose life.”
—Rebecca West (18921983)