“For human beings, life is meaningful because it is a story. A story has a sense of a whole, and its arc is determined by the significant moments, the ones where something happens. Measurements of people’s minute-by-minute levels of pleasure and pain miss this fundamental aspect of human existence. A seemingly happy life may be empty. A seemingly difficult life may be devoted to a great cause. We have purposes larger than ourselves.”

p238, '8 Courage', 'Being Mortal', Profile Books, ISBN 978-1846685 ― Atul Gawande

— Being Mortal by Atul Gawande (Wellcome Collection) (Page 238)