“Death is beautiful when seen to be a law, and not an accident. It is as common as life.”

“There is a moment when all things can be beautiful, heroic. That moment when life defies death and defeat ... Life and death can be beautiful, and noble, when you fight for your life, but also when you give it up without compromise.”

“Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”

“Beautiful as a dandelion-blossom, golden in the green grass,This life can be.Common as a dandelion-blossom, beautiful in the clean grass, not beautifulBecause common, beautiful because beautiful,Noble because common, because free.”

“Life and death have equal authority in nature. When laws contradict so fundamentally they cause mere confusion in the average soul ”

“He was no stranger to brutal death. Both as sheriff and as a cop on Chicago's south side, he'd seen his share of dying. Murder, accident, overdose - it happened in many ways, but the end was the same. Something sad and confusing left behind. Only the shape of life, only the empty outline.”