"Bod shrugged.  'So?' he said.  'It's only death.  I mean, all fo my best friends are dead.'
'Yes.' Silas hesitated.  'They are.  And they are, for the most part, done with the world.  You are not.  You're alive, Bod.  That means you have infinite potential.  You can do anything, make anything, dream anything.  If you change the world, the world will change.  Potential.  Once you're dead, it's gone.  Over.  You've made what you've made, dreamed your dream, written your nam.  You may be buried here, you may even walk.  But that potential is finished."
-The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman