The Water of Loving-Kindness

Moisten the mental continuum with the water of loving-kindness and prepare it as you would a piece of fertile ground. When the seed of compassion is planted in such a mind, germination will be swift, proper and complete. Once you have irrigated the mind stream with loving-kindness, meditate on compassion.

— Kamalashila,  Middling Stages of Meditation

Yet breath, like mist, is delicate

Yet breath, like mist, is delicate;
And life, seemingly strong, is ever near to passing.
Quickly pluck the essence of Dharma,
For definite it is, you will die at the hands of the great enemy Death.

— His Holiness the Seventh Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso