Simple answer: the Borg are alive. If the Borg were dead entities then there would be no way to bring them back "from the dead" after assimilation.
In my opinion (eek) there is no need for quotational evidence here. The evidence is on-screen in (amongst others) "TNG: I, Borg", "TNG: Descent" and Voyager season 4 onwards. Borg have emotions and desires, they are just suppressed by the implants. Don't confuse "unable to breed" with "unwilling to breed". The Borg are living organisms hosting parasitic nanoprobes that have suppressed almost everything about the organisms that made them "human". Once those probes are removed the "victim" can start to build a normal life that includes procreation and the fluffy bits around it. No jokes about "what is this human thing called 'kissing'?" please. ;-)
Picard's description of what life was like as a Borg (TNG: Family) included the sheer horror he felt as the part of him that had become "Locutus" committed atrocities that his suppressed personality was horrified to witness, and this (coupled with a more-than-possible case of PTSD) resulted in a man who would shoot one of his former officers out of mercy if he saw them becoming Borg.
Seven of Nine, spending most of her formative and adult years as a Borg, had been brought up without emotions but developed some emotional connection to people again following her "liberation". Icheb and the others introduced in VOY: Collective are other examples of former Borg managing to re-integrate into humanoid society after their emancipation, further proving that there is life under the Borg nanoprobes.
No-one involved with Borg throughout the run of the Next Gen era ever stated that a Borg they encountered was "dead" - not until they killed it, anyway.
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