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Life & Mortality Quote by Groucho Marx

"I intend to live forever, or die trying"

About this Quote

Groucho’s line works because it steals the grandiose language of self-improvement and jams it into the one arena where no amount of hustle counts: mortality. “I intend” has the stiff, managerial confidence of a man announcing a five-year plan. Then the punchline detonates that authority. “Live forever” is the oldest human fantasy, but Groucho treats it like a practical goal; “or die trying” flips the idiom of heroic striving (“do or die”) into a cosmic technicality. Of course you’ll die trying. That’s the joke: the effort is both inevitable and pointless, which makes the bravado deliciously hollow.

The subtext is Groucho’s signature anti-sentimental intelligence. He’s not offering comfort about death or romance about legacy; he’s exposing how easily our language turns fear into performance. The line mocks the American habit of treating every limit as a challenge problem, as if enough grit could bully the universe into granting extensions. It’s a one-sentence roast of motivational culture before the phrase existed.

Context matters, too. Groucho came up in the vaudeville-to-Hollywood pipeline, a period when comedy thrived on puncturing pretension - of aristocrats, politicians, romantic leads, even the idea that life is orderly and fair. A Jewish comedian born in 1890, he lived through wars, economic collapse, and the churn of modern mass media. The joke isn’t nihilism; it’s survival craft. If you can’t negotiate with death, you can at least heckle it, and walk away with the last line.

Quote Details

TopicWitty One-Liners
Source
Later attribution: Live Young, Think Young, Be Young (Donald Vickery, Larry Matson, Carol V..., 2012) modern compilationISBN: 9781936693252 · ID: TFk9BQAAQBAJ
Text match: 95.00%   Provider: Google Books
Evidence:
... I intend to live forever , or die trying . -Groucho Marx HOW LONG WILL I LIVE ? It's a question we've all pondered from time to time , espe- cially when a loved one passes away or when a friend , colleague , or someone notable who is ...
Other candidates (1)
Groucho Marx (Groucho Marx) compilation37.5%
i laid it down i was convulsed with laughter someday i intend on reading it to s
Cite

Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Marx, Groucho. (2026, February 1). I intend to live forever, or die trying. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-intend-to-live-forever-or-die-trying-7423/

Chicago Style
Marx, Groucho. "I intend to live forever, or die trying." FixQuotes. February 1, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-intend-to-live-forever-or-die-trying-7423/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I intend to live forever, or die trying." FixQuotes, 1 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-intend-to-live-forever-or-die-trying-7423/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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I intend to live forever, or die trying - Groucho Marx
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About the Author

Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx (October 2, 1890 - August 19, 1977) was a Comedian from USA.

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