Quotes
He planned his funeral, his oration, the invitations, the snubs, but that, death itself, was always Plan B. How, he would have said to his specialists, might we bypass this unpleasantness?
p. 420
Metamorphosis is death. Inside a pupa larval flesh breaks down utterly, as if in chemical spill. Eyes do not become other eyes nor mouthparts mouths. All parts are lost in a reconfiguring slop, as absolutely formless as a salted slug, that ex liquid nihilo self-organizes into a quite other animal. A cocoon is not a transformation pod but an execution chamber, one that doubles as a birthplace, and is parsimonious with matter.
p. 104
Something as biologically fundamental as death ought to be in the very fabric of evolution virtually from the beginning.
p. 332
“Are you that afraid to die?”
“No. I simply like to live.”
p. 78
The old man murmured: “Aye, we draw to an end. Dying hurts. Nonetheless the forefathers were wise who in their myths made Nan coequal with Lesu. A thing which endured forever would become unendurable. Death opens a way, for peoples as well as for people.”
p. 124
Men, whose span is cruelly short, rush nonetheless to death in their youth as to a maiden’s arms.
p. 55
“I think you look on death as your friend,” she murmured. “That is a strange friend for a young man to have.”
“The only faithful friend in this world,” he said. “Death is always sure to be at your side.”
p. 148
I have spent too much of my time worrying about what people think, Navani. When I thought my time had arrived, I realized that all my worrying had been wasted. In the end, I was pleased with how I had lived my life.
p. 951
Yes, I could have traveled quickly. But all men have been the same ultimate destination. Whether we find our end in a hallowed sepulcher or a pauper’s ditch, all save the Heralds themselves must dine with the Nightwatcher.
p. 818
Death comes, they whispered. Death comes to all. But life comes first. Cherish it.
Death is the destination. But the journey, that is life. That is what matters.
p. 610
Liberal hopefulness
Regards death as a mere border to an improving picture.
p. 78
Buddhists and Christians contrive to agree about death
Making death their ideal basis for different ideals.
The Communists however disapprove of death
Except when practical.
p. 78
