How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Ah. You're thinking, Mitch. But detachment doesn't mean you don't let the experience penetrate you. On the contrary, you let it penetrate you fully. That's how you are able to leave it." (15.32)
Morrie isn't suggesting that we detach ourselves from everything, including who we are. Instead, he's saying that in order to have the most amount of consciousness—to be aware of how it feels to exist one hundred percent—we should remove all the unnecessary cares and attachments from our lives so we can kind of throw ourselves into existing.
Quote #8
"I know you think this is just about dying," he said, but it's like I keep telling you. When you learn how to die, you learn how to live." (15.37)
Here are some of Morrie's most famous words. He's been able to live a meaningful life with his illness, precisely because he knows that his days are numbered. It's like we said: The theme of living and existing is completely tied up with the theme of dying.
Quote #9
The closer he got to the end, the more he saw it as a mere shell, a container of the soul. It was withering to useless skin and bones anyhow, which made it easier to let go. (24.5)
Here's a comment about the nitty gritty aspect of being alive: our bodies. Part of the wild truth about living and dying is that, aside from our minds and hearts, which are able to change so much in the world, we have these flimsy bodies that eventually wear out and die on us.