"It gets under your skin, life... It's a habit that's hard to give up. One puff of breath is never enough. You'll find you want to take another. And, you see, the more you struggle for every moment, the more alive you stay... Fear, too, is an anchor. All those senses, wide open to every fragment of the world. That beating heart. That rush of blood. Can you not feel it, dragging you back?"

Terry Pratchett, Hogfather