Quotes from book
Death with Interruptions

Name: Death with Interruptions
Author: José Saramago

José Saramago Original title As Intermitências da Morte (Portuguese, 2005)

Death with Interruptions, published in Britain as Death at Intervals , is a novel written by José Saramago. First released in 2005 in its original Portuguese, the novel was translated into English by Margaret Jull Costa in 2008.The novel centers around death as both a phenomenon, and as an anthropomorphized character. A key focus of the book is how society relates to death in both of these forms, and likewise, how death relates to the people she is meant to kill.

“The man changed position, turned his back on the wardrobe blocking the door and let his right arm slide down toward the side on which the dog is lying. A minute later, he was awake. He was thirsty. He turned on his bedside light, got up, shuffled his feet into the slippers which were, as always, providing a pillow for the dog's head, and went into the kitchen. Death followed him. The man filled a glass with water and drank it. At this point, the dog appeared, slaked his thirst in the water-dish next to the back door and then looked up at his master. I suppose you want to go out, said the cellist. He opened the door and waited until the animal came back. A little water remained in his glass. Death looked at it and made an effort to imagine what it must be like to feel thirsty, but failed. She would have been equally incapable of imagining it when she'd had to make people die of thirst in the desert, but at the time she hadn't even tried. The dog returned, wagging his tail. Let's go back to sleep, said the man. They went into the bedroom again, the dog turned around twice, then curled up into a ball. The man drew the sheet up to his neck, coughed twice and soon afterward was asleep again. Sitting in her corner, death was watching. Much later, the dog got up from the carpet and jumped onto the sofa. For the first time in her life, death knew what it felt like to have a dog on her lap.”

José Saramago book Death with Interruptions

Source: Death with Interruptions (2005), p. 172

“By the way, we feel we must mention that death, by herself and alone, with no external help, has always killed far less than mankind has.”

José Saramago book Death with Interruptions

A propósito, não resistiremos a recordar que a morte, por si mesma, sozinha, sem qualquer ajuda externa, sempre matou muito menos que o homem.
Source: Death with Interruptions (2005), p. 117