"Let your boat of life be light, packed only with what you need; a homely home and simple pleasures. One or two friends worth the name. Someone to love and someone to love you. A cat, a dog, and a pipe or two. Enough to eat and enough to wear and a little more than enough to drink, for thirst is a dangerous thing... you will find the boat easier to pull then. And it will not be so liable to upset. And it will not matter so much if it does upset."

-Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat (Not to Mention the Dog)