“The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.”
Maxim 511
Sentences, The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave
Source: I Am Legend (1954), Ch. 2
Context: They were strange, the facts about them: their staying inside by day, their avoidance of garlic, their death by stake, their reputed fear of crosses, their supposed dread of mirrors.
Take that last, now. According to legend, they were invisible in mirrors, but he knew that was untrue. As untrue as the belief that they transformed themselves into bats. That was a superstition that logic, plus observation had easily disposed of. ‘It was equally foolish to believe that they could transform themselves into wolves. Without a doubt there were vampire dogs; he had seen and heard them outside his house at night. But they were only dogs.
“The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself.”
Maxim 511
Sentences, The Moral Sayings of Publius Syrus, a Roman Slave
“And death?
I don’t fear death.
I dread the absence of it.”
Divided by Infinity (p. 195)
The Perseids and Other Stories (2000)
“What's Buffy got? A wooden stake, some garlic. Xena has a full arsenal of weapons.”
Remarking on who would win in a fight, in a pair-up between her character Xena and Buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer — reported in San Antonio Express-News staff (May 16, 2000) San Antonio Express-News, "'Dirty Dancing' sequel set", p. 4D.
Clinging to the Wreckage : A Part of Life (1982), p. 183
“Angel of Death ain't kissing me! I'm full of garlic!”
The 2,000 Year Old Man (and sequels)
[Noam, Cohen, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/business/media/wikipedia-is-emerging-as-trusted-internet-source-for-information-on-ebola-.html, The New York Times, October 26, 2014, Wikipedia Emerges as Trusted Internet Source for Ebola Information, October 29, 2014]
“Because it all comes from inside. As a matter of fact, that’s where it stays.”
Oui interview (1979)
Context: Organized religions by their very natures are misleading. The bottom line is always money. What that’s got to do with your spiritual well-being still eludes me. It’s always the bucks, no matter how they disguise it. If you need that sort of assistance to keep yourself together, you may be paying a higher rate to a fake religion than you would to a psychotherapist. Which is not to say that a psychotherapist is going to give you any better value per dollar either. lf you’re going to deal with reality, you’re going to have to make one big discovery: Reality is something that belongs to you as an individual. If you wanna grow up, which most people don’t, the thing to do is take responsibility for your own reality and deal with it on your own terms. Don’t expect that because you pay some money to somebody else or take a pledge or join a club or run down the street or wear a special bunch of clothes or play a certain sport or even drink Perrier water, it’s going to take care of everything for you. Because it all comes from inside. As a matter of fact, that’s where it stays.