The Dreadful Prospect of Never Dying
Luggnaggian Gentleman: When they came to fourscore years, which is reckoned the extremity of living in this country, they had not only all the follies and infirmities of other old men, but many more which arose from the dreadful prospect of never dying. They were not only opinionative, peevish, covetous, morose, vain, talkative, but incapable of friendship, and dead to all natural affection, which never descended below their grandchildren. Envy and impotent desires are their prevailing passions. … whenever they see a funeral, they lament and repine that others have gone to a harbour of rest to which they themselves never can hope to arrive.
Get the book at Bookshop.org Supports independent bookstores. We earn a small commission.
Context: In Luggnagg, Gulliver's interpreter explains what life is really like for the struldbrugs, people born immortal.
Source: Part III, Chapter X