“That is the ultimate power, to stare death in the face and be unafraid.”

“One should be prepared to receive ninety-nine percent of an enemy's attack and stare death right in the face in order to illumine the Path.”

“The ultimate meaning to which all stories refer has two faces: the continuity of life, the inevitability of death.”

“You're staring at me," Simon said. "Why are you staring at me? Have I got something on my face?”

“The ethical regime [of the Jews] was quite definitely Ptolemaic, revolving around the small group of Jews, not the larger Gentile group—and, accordingly, they learned to remain unimpressed by Gentile temporal power. Being unimpressed did not mean being unafraid—material power might beat or starve one to death; it did mean refusing to surrender moral hegemony to the majority merely because it had power.”

“Integrative power [is] the ultimate power”

“Death stares at me/ Death pushes me forward/ Attracts me onwards/ And carries me on/ And that is my life!”

“Deadlines just aren't real to me until I'm staring one in the face.”

“Looking in the mirror, staring back at me isn't so much a face as the expression of a predicament.”

“Often I'd take out my magnifying glass and stare into the chaos that was her face.”