Quote 7
"You know," he said after a while, "it's kids' stuff, but I always thought my obituary would be in all the newspapers, that I'd have a story worth telling. I always had this secret suspicion that I was special." (17.8)
Augustus isn't trying to be arrogant—he just desperately wants to fulfill what he thought he was going to be in life.
Quote 8
"If you don't live a life in service of a greater good, you've gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good, you know? And I fear that I won't get either a life or a death that means anything." (11.97)
Augustus feels like he has a responsibility to make something of himself before he dies—for the sake of the universe. That's a lot of pressure.
Quote 9
"I'm hopefully I'll get to attend as a ghost, but just to make sure, I thought I'd—well, not to put you on the spot, but I just this afternoon thought I could arrange a prefuneral…" (20.38)
Augustus organizes his own prefuneral so he can hear what Isaac and Hazel have to say about him. What do you think: morbid or brave?