Born Alone, Die Alone: What Does This Mean?

Shapiro, Fred fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Mon Oct 24 17:09:18 UTC 2011


I apologize for my cluelessness, but there is a quote by Steven Jobs that is getting some publicity and that makes no sense to me.  He said, "You're born alone, you're going to die alone."  What does this mean?  Many people die alone, but many do not, and it is not clear to me that anyone is born alone.  Some babies are given birth by mothers in secretive circumstances and the mother dies in childbirth, but this is unusual and the baby may quickly die when this happens.

Fred Shapiro

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