This quote means that life is filled with difficult experiences, setbacks, and failures that one must endure and learn from in order to truly experience living. Dying in this context means learning from and getting over difficult experiences. Living means taking a chance, being brave and using those experiences, both negative and positive, to take risks and fully enjoy life. Having to die a few times beforehand means that one has to go through the process of learning from difficult experiences in order to truly be capable of fully living.