Death

"If we could be sure on 1 January that we would die on 31 December... How different our thinking, our work, the way we carry ourselves would be. How much excitement we would know to be useless! How many more people we would look at with more love! How grateful we would be for just one nice sunny day! For a good burrow! For a plate of food! How uninterested we'd be in reading politics, stock exchanges, and public statements. What interest we'd have in watching a lot of holidaying, bustling, hammer and mallet, envious spittle and sweaty rage, bludgeon, badge, pink letter and silk ties. Money reading and land registry tables. And so on. But you have to know the expiry date."