“The terrifying experience and obsession of death, when preserved in consciousness, becomes ruinous. If you talk about death, you save part of yourself. But at the same time, something of your real self dies, because objectified meanings lose the actuality they have in consciousness.”

— Emil M. Cioran

On the Heights of Despair (1934)

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Emil M. Cioran 531

Romanian philosopher and essayist 1911–1995

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“The only means of being great in life is having the consciousness that you will not retreat before death.”

Jean-Marie Guyau (1854–1888) French writer and philosopher

Sacrifice https://www.marxists.org/archive/guyau/1895/sacrifice.htm, Pages Choisies des Grands Écrivains (1895).
Context: We can judge ourselves and our ideal by posing this question: For what idea, for what person would I be ready to risk my life? He who cannot answer such a question has a vulgar and empty heart. He is incapable of feeling or doing anything grand in life, since he is unable to go beyond his individuality. He is impotent and sterile, dragging along his selfish ego like the tortoise its shell. On the contrary, he who has present in his spirit the idea of death for his ideal seeks to maintain this ideal at the height of this possible sacrifice. He draws from this supreme risk a constant tension and an indefatigable energy of the will. The only means of being great in life is having the consciousness that you will not retreat before death.