Death is never as distant as we believe it to be, and it will never come willingly.

The line compresses two related ideas: mortality is closer than our everyday habits of denial suggest, and death is not something we can schedule, bargain with, or domesticate. “Never as distant” challenges the illusion of long horizons—youth, health, and routine can make death feel abstract, yet it remains an ever-present possibility. “Will never come willingly” personifies death as resistant to human control, implying that even when we think we are prepared—or even when we seek it—death arrives on its own terms. The quote thus urges humility about control and a heightened attentiveness to how we live in the face of uncertainty.