Tell him,' the colonel said, smiling, 'that a person doesn’t die when he should but when he can.

You people have a religion of death that fills you with the joy and courage to confront it...I do not. I believe the only essential thing is to be alive.- Abrenucio

Be calm. God awaits you at the door.

They were people whose lives were slow, who did not see themselves growing old, or falling sick, or dying, but who disappeared little by little in their own time, turning into memories, mists from other days, until they were absorbed into oblivion.

siguió evocando hasta el amanecer las excelencias del marido, sin reprocharle otra deslealtad que la de haberse muerto sin ella, y redimida por la certidumbre de que nunca había sido tan suyo como lo era entonces, dentro de un cajón clavado con doce clavos de tres pulgadas, y a dos metros debajo de la tierra.
—Soy feliz —dijo— porque sólo ahora sé con seguridad dónde está cuando no está en la casa.

If I died now," he said, "you would hardly remember me when you are my age."
He said it for no apparent reason, and the angel of death hovered for a moment in the cool shadows of the office and flew out again through the window, leaving a trail of feathers fluttering in his wake, but the boy did not see them.