Death. The certain prospect of death could sweeten every life with a precious and fragrant drop of levity-and now you strange apothecary souls have turned it into an ill-tasting drop of poison that makes the whole of life repulsive.

Our life is made by the death of others.

As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.

Death is close enough at hand so we do not need to be afraid of life.

Just as a well-filled day brings blessed sleep, so a well-employed life brings a blessed death.

We cannot hope to die peacefully if our lives have been full of violence, or if our minds have mostly been agitated by emotions like anger, attachment, or fear. So if we wish to die well, we must learn how to live well: Hoping for a peaceful death, we must cultivate peace in our mind, and in our way of life.