5 Famous Literary Quotes Explained: “No man is an island.”

The English poet and cleric John Donne penned the well-known phrase, “No man is an island.”

In 1623, the prominent English author and poet, John Donne (1572-1631), fell severely ill. Believing that he was going to die from the sickness, Donne composed a prosaic collection of his final thoughts in meditations, prayers, and expostulations which he titled, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions. He dedicated the collection to Prince Charles I (soon to be King Charles I) as a medium to deliver deathbed wisdom to a future king. It was published in 1624.

The line, “No man is an island,” comes from “Meditation XVII,” in which Donne explores the connectedness of all mankind in life and in death:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.” – Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII

The meditation was inspired by the sound of bells tolling outside Donne’s sickbed window. The church bells would sound in various patterns to signify various events. When Donne heard distant funeral bells tolling, he was reminded that his own death was near as well. This meditation serves to remind us that when we hear of others’ deaths, we should honor and recognize them as if they were our own death. Because we are all human. And in that way, we are connected—one.