When Andrew Jackson died someone asked a friend if he thought Old Hickory would go to heaven. 'He will if he wants to ' was the reply. On his death bed Disraeli declined a visit from Queen Victoria. 'No it is better not' he said 'she would only ask me to take a message to Albert.' I am a broken machine. I am ready to go.

Meaning: The saying pictures restrained grief bursting the heart. Its forceful image expresses the pressure of sorrow kept unspoken or unacknowledged.

Meaning: The timing of death cannot be treated as an appointment people can count on controlling. The calendar image expresses uncertainty about life’s duration, encouraging awareness of limits without making a prediction about any individual or demanding constant urgency.

Meaning: Death is imagined as unable to hear objections, so a protest cannot make it negotiate. The saying expresses mortality’s finality rather than a judgment about how someone should feel about loss.

Meaning: Death is named as a certainty against which other expectations seem less secure. The saying invites perspective on finite life, but it gives no information about anyone’s timing or circumstances and should not dismiss fear, grief or the value of present care.