For only they can sense life who stand often on the verge of it, only they whose lives are not governed by the fear of death.

…it seems we may best be able to inhabit a place where we are not faced with the additional challenge of having to be there.” (p.23)

That world may be real for them, but it doesn't mean you have to live in it.

We do not choose survival as a value, it chooses us.

And probably, if they don’t waste time looking for an easier world, they can do it.

Why should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of acquaintances who are not quite our enemies, the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity? Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?

I believe there are ways whose ends are life instead of death.

Out of the welter of life, a few people are selected for us by the accident of temporary confinement in the same circle. We never would have chosen these neighbors; life chose them for us. But thrown together on this island of living, we stretch to understand each other and are invigorated by the stretching. The difficulty with big city environment is that if we select — and we must in order to live and breathe and work in such crowded conditions — we tend to select people like ourselves, a very monotonous diet. All hors d’oeuvres and no meat; or all sweets and no vegetables, depending on the kind of people we are. But however much the diet may differ between us, one thing is fairly certain: we usually select the known, seldom the strange. We tend not to choose the unknown which might be a shock or a disappointment or simply a little difficult to cope with. And yet it is the unknown with all its disappointments and surprises that is the most enriching.

Historical, religious, and existential treatises suggest that for some persons at some times, it is rational not to avoid physical death at all costs. Indeed the spark of humanity can maximize its essence by choosing an alternative that preserves the greatest dignity and some tranquility of mind.

As the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: survival for what? Ever more people have the means to live, but no meaning to live for.

Life doesn't require that we be the best, only that we try our best.

People who live in difficult circumstances need to know that happy endings are possible.

White people often spent time admiring their survival of one thing or another. I imagined it was because so often they had no need to survive, but only to live.

Not everyone has to be the Chosen One. Not everyone has to be the guy who saves the world. Most people just have to live their lives the best they can, doing the things that are great for them, having great friends, trying to make their lives better, loving people properly. All the while knowing that the world makes no sense but trying to find a way to be happy anyway.