“Because nothing makes love and life matter more than the knowledge that some day it must end. ”

“What value can one ordinary man have in a magical world? What can a mortal bring to the affairs of immortals?Insight. Honor. Morality. Perspective.Because nothing makes love and life matter more than the knowledge that some day it must end.”

“You must not make the mistake of thinking that because nothing lasts, nothing matters.”

“For white people, nothing makes them appreciate the gift of life more than voluntarily trying to end it.”

“If I think more about death than some other people, it is probably because I love life more than they do.”

“But perhaps what mattered at eighty was habit, the body no longer interested in sex, the mind no longer interested in speculation, the smaller things in life mattering more than the large and, in the end, the slow realization that nothing really mattered at all.”