“Death can be a very liberating thing, especially when you are still among the living. Knowing that you will die frees you from the crushing burden that is Life, and yes, we all know that we are going to die, but we don't all accept that fact; we don't all live with that comforting knowledge. Instead, we strive in vain to be that one person who never dies, clawing away for that position that will ensure our immortality. The journey of Life is to meet Death on our own terms, and once that can be accepted, the world is wide open. - The Reflecting Pond; Insights of Alsop Tambor”
“Since death is an inevitablility and life an uncertainty, it all comes down to how we live the precious moments of our lives. When all is said and done, when you are ready to slip peacefully from this world into the next, how do you want to be remembered?”
“We are left with nothing but death, the irreducible fact of our own mortality. Death after a long illness we can accept with resignation. Even accidental death we can ascribe to fate. But for a man to die of no apparent cause, for a man to die simply because he is a man, brings us so close to the invisible boundary between life and death that we no longer know which side we are on. Life becomes death, and it is as if this death has owned this life all along. Death without warning. Which is to say: life stops. And it can stop at any moment.”
“Survival is the celebration of choosing life over death. We know we're going to die. We all die. But survival is saying: perhaps not today. In that sense, survivors don't defeat death, they come to terms with it.”
“What do you know about yourself? What are your stories? The ones you tell yourself, and the ones told by others. All of us begin somewhere. Though I suppose the truth is that we begin more than once; we begin many times. Over and over, we start our own tales, compose our own stories, whether our lives are short or long. Until at last all our beginnings come down to just one end, and the tale of who we are is done.”
“Not one of the creatures of blood can escape death. We all face it, and succumb to it. It follows us like a dark shadow. Yet if we live in terror of it, then we do not live at all. Yes we are born alone, and yes we will die alone. But in between, Tae, we live. We know joy.”
“Wouldn't it be better to go like this? If we live our lives as an adventure, there's only one proper way to end them. Don't you feel it? We're young and free and beautiful and brilliant and so perfectly alive. We're burning bright and fast, like supermassive stars, you know? And we can go supernova, ignite the whole sky in a fiery explosion when we die. Or we can just grow old, wither, let our outer layers float away as we wait for death to take us.”