This quote coincides with the term, "quantity versus quality". It's a great quote because of the truth it holds about life. A person can live 100 years, but if those 100 years have no meaning or quality, they're simply useless. Living without happiness or feeling is just about as wonderful as being dead because there is nothing happening and you're not making it happen. If an individual were to only live 18 years, but those 18 years were better than another person's 100 years, then he's had a good life.