"Oh yes, I think it’s the actual process of broadening yourself. Of knowing there’s now a little extra facet of the universe you know about, and can think about, and can understand. It seems to me that when it’s time to die, and that will come to all of us, that there’s a certain…pleasure in thinking that you had utilized your life well. That you had learned as much as you could, gathered in as much as possible of the universe, and enjoyed it! I mean, there’s only this one universe, and only this one lifetime to try to grasp it. And while it is inconceivable that anyone can grasp more than a tiny portion of it, at least do that much. I mean, what a tragedy! Just to pass through and get nothing out of it."
Isaac Asimov (video)