The Parable of the meaning of life - from the remarkable book by Somerset Maugham, "Of Human Bondage" and if you have not read this book, be sure to read.

There once was a Chinese emperor. It is not so long ago came to the throne, he was young and curious. The Emperor knew very much, and he wanted to know more, but after seeing how much is still left unread books in the palace library, he realized that he could not read them all. One day he called the court a wise man and ordered him to write the history of mankind.
 
Long worked the sage. Years passed and the decades and now, finally, the servants brought to the room the Emperor five hundred books, which described the whole history of mankind. Many marveled at the Emperor. Although he was no longer young - thirst for knowledge has not left him. But he could not spend years reading the books and asked to cut the story, leaving only the most important.

Again, for many years he worked sage, and one day the servants of the Emperor wheeled cart with fifty books. The Emperor was quite old. He knew he did not have time to read the books, and he asked the sage, leave only the most important.

Again, the wise man went to work and after some time he was able to fit the entire history of mankind just one book, but when he brought it - the emperor was on his deathbed and was so weak that he could not even open it. Then the emperor asked everyone to express even shorter now, while he did not have time to go into another world. And then the wise man opened the book and wrote on the last page is just one phrase:

Man is born to suffer and die ...