"Ebenezer hesitated. ' ’Tis a great step.'
' 'Tis a great world and a short life!' replied Burlingame. 'A pox on all steps but great ones!'
'I fear me what Father would say, did he hear of't.'
'My dear fellow,' Burlingame said caustically, 'we sit here on a blind rock careening through space; we are all of us rushing headlong to the grave. Think you the worms will care, when anon they make a meal of you, whether you spent your moments sighing wigless in your chamber, or sacked the golden towns of Montezuma? Lookee, the day's nigh spent; 'tis gone careening into time forever. Not a tale's length past we lined our bowels with dinner and already they growl for more. We are dying men, Ebenezer: i'faith, there's time for naught but bold resolves!'"
From: The Sot-weed Factor by John Barth
“Joy at the smallest things comes to you only when you have accepted death. But if you look out greedily for all that you could still live, then nothing is great enough for your pleasure, and the smallest things that continue to surround you are no longer a joy” -C.G. Jung
"When in the body of a donkey, enjoy the taste of grass." -Tibetan Buddhist saying