n., pl. lives

The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.

Copyright: XAG

Life might play tricks, but it demanded that you endured them; that was a basic duty you faced every morning when you awoke. If your dreams turned to dross, if your family banished you, if you lost the person you loved, and all hope of finding your heart's true resting place... you went on.

But God, it hurt.

"Homeland", John Jakes