I love this quote by Mary Wollstonecraft,the mother of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein:

"It appears to me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only be organized dust-- ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or the spark goes out, which kept it together. Surely something resides in this heart that is not perishable--and life is more than a dream."