He that lays down precepts for the government of our lives and moderating our passions obliges human nature, not only in the present, but in all succeeding generations.

Working out how to live well and passing it on is a gift that keeps paying long after the person is gone. Practical wisdom does not expire the way information does; the same handful of observations about anger, patience and desire go on being accurate because people go on being people. Whoever does that work saves everyone who comes after a portion of the same painful discovery.

You do not need to write a book. Tell someone younger the specific thing you got wrong and what you would do instead. One accurate sentence, given at the right moment, travels further than you will ever see.