“Death will be a great relief. No more interviews.”

“Little WordsWhen you are gone, there is nor bloom nor leaf,Nor singing sea at night, nor silver birds;And I can only stare, and shape my griefIn little words.I cannot conjure loveliness, to drownThe bitter woe that racks my cords apart.The weary pen that sets my sorrow downFeeds at my heart.There is no mercy in the shifting year,No beauty wraps me tenderly about.I turn to little words- so you, my dear,Can spell them out.”

“Die, die we all pass away, But don’t wear a frown coz it’s really okay,And you might try to hide, And you might try to pray,But we all end up remains of the day.”

“When my mother passed away several years ago—well, wait a minute. Actually, she didn’t ‘pass away.’ She died. Something about that verb, ‘to pass away’ always sounds to me as if someone just drifted through the wallpaper. No, my mother did not pass away. She definitely died.”

“YOU’RE ONLY PUTTING OFF THE INEVITABLE, he said.That’s what being alive is all about.”

“I asked this heroic pet lover how it felt to have died for a schnauzer named Teddy. Salvador Biagiani was philosophical. He said it sure beat dying for absolutely nothing in the Viet Nam War.”

“She dotes on poetry, sir. She adores it; I may say that her whole soul and mind are wound up, and entwined with it. She has produced some delightful pieces, herself, sir. You may have met with her ‘Ode to an Expiring Frog,’ sir.”

“The BALLPOINT PENGUINS, black and white, Do little else but write and write.Although they’ve nothing much to say, They write and write it anyway….”

“There is nothing like scrubbing toilets for a living to make you question the choices you have made in life.”

“Someone dying asks if there is life after death. Yes, comes the answer, only not yours.”

“Just know I amNot there to catch youBut I am there for you”

“That’s it then. This is how it ends. I haven’t even read Proust.”

“Immortality like this is about as useful as sunscreen on a submarine.”

“Enjoy yourselves. And Hap: Don’t let Umber near the arrows and bows; he’s liable to shoot himself in the nose.” Dodd grinned and snapped the reins, and the carriage rolled away. Umber sniffed. “One of his lesser poems. Come, Hap.”

“Knackered inmates are easier to control than pumped-up ones. And dead inmates are even easier to control, if you follow me.”