To express the sensations I underwent at that moment is not within the province of language. My erratic and useless life passed in review before me in less than an instant of time. I lived more in that minute or two of our deadly struggle than I had ever done in years, and, as I was wholly powerless, I gave myself up for lost—another victim to Apache ferocity.
— John Cremony, Life Among The Apaches
"Einstein was right, time is relative to the observer. When you're looking down the barrel of a gun, time slows down. Your whole life flashes by, heartbreak and scars. Stay with it, and you can live a lifetime in that split second."
"Ooh, me life flashed before me eyes!" *pause* "It was really borin'."
— Babs, Chicken Run
Giles: You might have let me in on your plan while he throttled me.
Spike: Oh poor watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cup of tea, cup of tea, almost got shagged, cup of tea?
Spike: Oh poor watcher. Did your life pass before your eyes? Cup of tea, cup of tea, almost got shagged, cup of tea?
" Well little buddy, my life is flashing before my very eyes... I wondered where I left my wallet."
— Sam, Sam and Max
"You only live twice. Once when you are born and once when you look death in the face."
— From a poem James Bond wrote in the book version of You Only Live Twice
Togusa: All I could see was...my wife and daughter's faces...
Batou: It wasn't your wife or daughter you saw. It was the face of Death.
Batou: It wasn't your wife or daughter you saw. It was the face of Death.
— Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
"Wait, hold on, I'm a human - so, why is a chicken's life flashing thru -"
— Zip, Hair High
Mako: All my overdue library books just flashed before my eyes.
Landon: We all have library books, Libretti.
Landon: We all have library books, Libretti.
"I swear to God, five thousand blondes flashed right before my eyes back there"
— Iron Man, The Ultimates
"As soon as I hit that freezing cold water, my life flashed before my eyes. Which was actually helpful, because my memory came back!"
— Delphina/Kim, Jessie
"I feel weaker...weaker...Death must be approaching...I can see my whole life pass before my eyes!"
"You know the cliché, Fred. Everyone does. "When you're about to die, your life flashes in front of your eyes." But I've been there, and it's crap... isn't it? You see something, though. You see the holes... the missing bits. And all of the things that would have made your life complete, if you had one more year... a day... a second. I don't know what you saw, Fred, but considering you were in free fall for a solid minute, I bet it was an eyeful. Maybe you are a screw-up. A loser. A drunk. But maybe, the piece you're missing... can make you something better. But only if you go to her, and try. Merry Christmas, Fred. Hope it's a good one."
— Supergirl, DCU Infinite Holiday Special issue #1
"I'm drowning! I'm drowning here! I'm going down for the last time! I-I-I see my whole life flashing before my eyes. I see a weathered old farmhouse with a white picket fence. I'm running through fields of alfalfa with my collie, Rex. Stop it, Rex! I see my mother standing on the back porch, in a worn but clean gingham gown, and I hear her calling out to me, 'Alvin! Don't forget your chores. The wood needs a-cordin' and the cows need a-milkin'. Alvin, Alvin...' Wait a minute! My name's not Alvin! That's not my life. I'm not a hillbilly. I grew up in the Bronx. Leo's taken everything. Even my past!"
— Max Bialystock in "Betrayed", The Producers
Three days without food or water, archeologist Phil Thompson with his leg hopelessly trapped in a wilderness rock-fall, and with hungry buzzards circling overhead, saw his entire life pass before him and he once again experienced, as a child, his mother’s comforting words and tender touch, as she gently awakened him from his recurring nightmare of being eaten by birds.
— Ron Pizarie, Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest 2019
What's the matter? Lives flashing before your eyes?
"You'll remember our conversation. You will. When your time does arrive. It won't be your life flashing before your eyes, it'll be mine. I suppose it'll be the closest I can hope to come to haunting you."
— The Expert as The Killer leads her out to be killed.
Queenie looked as if she'd lost her best friend—herself! Now Queenie's whole life flashed before her—especially the part where she was going to be expelled from school for life.
— The Berenstain Bears and the School Scandal Sheet
Then, so quick I can't tell what he does, he zings his fingers over the track pad, highlights my sentences, and presses something. ZIP! In a flash all my sentences totally vanish. I rise up out of my seat. My whole life of ten years flashes before my eyes. I can't breathe. My story is gaan! Then that blond boy leans over and presses another command.
In a flash my sentences fly back from outer space where they've been floating homeless, and they land back down in the spot I prayed they would. Yes, mon!
— Willie, 4 Kids in 5E and 1 Crazy Year
