“It is not that we have a short space of time, but that we
waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently
generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the
whole of it is well invested. But when it is squandered in luxury and
carelessness, when it is devoted to no good end, forced at last by the ultimate
necessity we perceive that it has passed away before we were aware that it was passing.
So it is—the life we receive is not short, but we make it so, nor do we have
any lack of it, but are wasteful of it. Just as great and princely wealth is
scattered in a moment when it comes into the hands of a bad owner, while wealth
however limited, if it is entrusted to a good guardian, increases by use, so
life is amply long for the one who orders it properly.” -Seneca, On the
Shortness of Life
(Source
of the quote above)