everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

People want a desirable outcome without enduring the necessary difficulties or sacrifices.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Người ta muốn kết quả mong muốn mà không muốn vượt qua khó khăn

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: going to heaven and dying as a transition
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English
Sources & notes

Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die” mean?

People want a desirable outcome without enduring the necessary difficulties or sacrifices. Literally: going to heaven and dying as a transition

Is “everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.