“I wasn't particularly afraid of death itself. As Shakespeare said, die this year and you don't have to die the next.”

“Tell me, Doctor, are you afraid of death?""I guess it depends on how you die.”

“Shakespeare said it best,' Tamaru said quietly as he gazed at that lumpish, misshapen head. 'Something along these lines: if we die today, we do not have to die tomorrow, so let us look to the best in each other”

“There are ways of dying that don't end in funerals. Types of death you can't smell.”

“I'm not afraid to die. What I'm afraid of is having reality get the better of me, of having reality leave me behind.”

“I was reborn," she said, her hot breath brushing his ear."You were reborn," Tengo said."Because I died once.""You died once," Tengo repeated."On a night when there was a cold rain falling," she said."Why did you die?""So I would be reborn like this.""You would be reborn," Tengo said."More or less," she whispered quietly. "In all sorts of forms.”

“There. My ears are all dead. Now you try."Three times I repeated the movements she'd made. Slowly, carefully, but nothing left me with the impression that my ears had died. The wine was rapidly circulating through my system."I do believe that my ears aren't dying properly, " I said, disappointed.She shook her head. "That's okay. If your ears don't need to die, there's nothing wrong with them not dying.”