To live every day as if it has been stolen from death, that is how I would like to live. To feel the joy of life… To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we all encounter every day. To say I am alive, I am wonderful, I am. I am. That is something to aspire to.
- Garth Stein, The Art of Racing in the Rain

I would rather be ashes than dust
I would rather that my spark should burn out
In a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom
Of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.
- Jack London

Following the light of the sun, we left the old world.
- Christopher Columbus