There is no stare more intense than that of one’s mortality

Minh Tan

Other quotes by me

In English, there are a lot of expressions about stares to describe how intense they are, like stare daggers at, stares of ice and fire, death, and so on. There is also an expression about staring death in the face, which means facing one’s mortality. When I was much younger and learning English, I noticed these expressions. Then a few brushes with death happened and it became obvious to me that all these people’s stares were pansy compared to when you’re staring death in the face.

I’m not sure if staring death in the face was meant to come with a capital D or not, as in the metaphorical figure of death, or if death meant mortality. I took it as mortality, which does not have a face because it’s not a figure. However, staring at it is basically what one does when confronted with dying. Whether it is coming, or you just got past it, you don’t just forget about it. You think about it and you’re very aware of it, like someone who blatantly stares at you. And that was where I came up with this expression, which I use to tell myself any time someone is trying to give me a nasty stare, whether out of anger, displeasure, or just gamesmanship in sports or other competition.