“It looks as if he was one of those men who torment themselves trying to discover the meaning of existence.”

“You find that reprehensible?”

“I find it futile. Metaphysical speculation is about as pointless as a discussion of the meaning of one’s lungs. They’re for breathing.”

“And life is for living. You find that an adequate personal credo?”

“To maximize one’s pleasures and minimize one’s pain, yes, sir, I do. And, I suppose, to bear with stoicism those miseries I can’t avoid. To be human is to ensure enough of those without inventing them. Anyway, I don’t believe you can hope to understand what you can’t see or touch or measure.”

–P.D. James, Death of an Expert Witness

Chatter Death of an Expert Witness PD James