William T. Vollmann Quotes

You realize that however much you don't think about death - or think that's for other people - you're just an organism living from day to day. I'm just grateful I'm here.

No man enjoys the true taste of life, but he who is ready and willing to quit it.

There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.

I'm not afraid of death, but I resent it. I think it's unfair and irritating.

You've gotta know what death is to know life!

I realise how precious life is, probably because I've seen how it can be taken away.

What makes us really human is it's in the presence of death that we start valuing life.

I'm not afraid of death. How can you be afraid of something that's inevitable?

Death is an endless night so awful to contemplate that it can make us love life and value it with such passion that it may be the ultimate cause of all joy and all art.

Believe me, if a man doesn't know death, he doesn't know life.

One should not confuse the craving for life with endorsement of it.

There's something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate your life now.

I think I want to talk about life from the point of view of death.

Death can really absorb a person. Lik most people, I would find it pleasant not to have to go, but you just accept that it's more or less inevitable.

Everyone is going to die.

We're all going to die.

You can't be scared of death. When that time comes, it comes.

I mean, whatever kills you kills you, and your death is authentic no matter how you die.

Ageing's a difficult thing, moving closer to death, but it's okay. I've had a good time living, so I'm gonna have a good time dying.

I'm not afraid of death. What's to fear? Once you're dead, that's it. Nothing. I don't believe in heaven or hell. That's baloney. What matters is the here and now. Yes, I'm 88, and there are things I can't do: I can't run a race or climb Everest. But isn't life magnificent?

Joy of living is sustainable; fear of dying is not.

Time takes the ugliness and horror out of death and turns it into beauty.

I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful.

All I can say is, death is a part of life.

You can have small moments of happiness in life. You certainly can't expect years and years of it.