Nothing that grieves us can be called little: by the eternal laws of proportion
a child's loss of a doll and a king's loss of a crown are events of the
same size.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of
strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow;
for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Psalms
To fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise, without being
wise: for it is to think that we know what we do not know. For anything
that men can tell, death may be the greatest good that can happen to them:
but they fear it as if they knew quite well that it was the greatest of
evils. And what is this but that shameful ignorance of thinking that we
know what we do not know?
Socrates (469-399 B.C.)