A small black top hat with a sunflower in its band and a glass teardrop bead on a lavender cloth.

Original artwork, not a still

Mark Twain

Let us endeavour so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The wish sets an unusually demanding test for a memorable life: even someone whose work involves death should be sorry to see it end. Bringing the undertaker into an otherwise earnest thought gives the encouragement a dry comic edge.

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