“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”

“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.”

“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.”

“There are a million things in this world that can end you, that can in one second obliterate the life you work so hard to keep alive. Our lives are structured around not dying. Eating, sleeping, looking both ways before you cross the street. It's all, all of it, to keep us safe from the thing that we know is going to get us anyway. It doesn't even make sense, if you think about it. It's the world's biggest joke. Our entire lives are set up around not dying, knowing all the while that it's the one thing we can't avoid.”