"The world has lasted six thousand years now, and, with the exception of those at present alive, the millions who have breathed upon it -- splendid emperors, horny-fisted clowns, little children, in whom thought has never stirred -- have died, and what they have done, we also shall be able to do."
-- Alexander Smith, "Of Death And The Fear Of Dying" in Dreamthorp (Edinburgh: 1888), p. 65.
