A Secular New World

"All say, 'How hard it is that we have to die'-- a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live." -Pudd'n Head Wilson

When I first read this quote, I thought that it was more of Twain's later, pessimistic view of life-- as though death is a release from the troubles of this world.

But I think there is a more uplifting message here. Life is such a rare thing, that the price of death is as paltry as it is necessary.