lifespan, n.All

A Lifespan (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠counted wrongly when we boast of its years: sixty years behind you are sixty years you haven't got.

A Lifespan (n.) reckoned ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠by its troubles is long even for a boy; reckoned by its speed, scanty even for a greybeard.

A Lifespan (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠like body weight: you don't grieve at not weighing three hundred pounds, so why grieve at not living longer?

A Lifespan (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠short from birth to dissolution, while the time before and after is infinite: the man who dies at a hundred and the one who dies young come to the same.

A Lifespan (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not the price of being an individual but the price of being a complicated one: the past that equips you for the future also blocks you from new kinds of problem.

A Lifespan (n.) of ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠forty years shows as much as ten thousand: the future will keep the same tune — what more would you see?

A Lifespan (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a limit like body weight: you don't fret that you weigh so many pounds and not three hundred, so why fret over so many years and not more?

Lifespan (n.) changes ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the size of a good life, never its shape: like a circle drawn large or small, an honourable life scaled down from a hundred years to a single day is equally honourable.