"One who really understands ...."

One who really understands his ming does not stand beneath a falling wall.  One who dies after fulfilling his way has corrected his destiny.

Mencius

"Life is what I want ...."

Life is what I want; yi* is also what I want.  If I cannot have both, I would rather take yi than life.  On the other hand, though life is what I want, there is something I want more than life.  That is why I do not cling to life at all cost.   In other words, there are things a person wants more than life and there are also things he or she loathes more than death.

Mencius

* often translated as ‘meaningfulness’