"Why should I fear death ...."

Why should I fear death?

If I am, then death is not.

If Death is, then I am not.

Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?

Long time men lay oppressed with slavish fear.

Religious tyranny did domineer.

At length the mighty one of Greece

Began to assent the liberty of man.

Epicurus

"Never look back ...."

Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.

Henry D Thoreau

"A monk asked, ...."

A monk asked, “What is the road of Yunmen?”

“Personal experience!”

“What is the way?”

“Go!”

“Where is the road?  Where is the way?”

“Start walking!”

Yumen Wang, a Tang dynasty Chan Buddhist founder

"In three words ...."

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.

Robert Frost

"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’