Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation of how it shall be spent; dleiberation, which those who begin it by prudence, and continue it with futility, must, afer long expence of thought, conclude by chance. To prefer one future mode of life to another, upon just reasons, requires faculties which it has not pleased our Creator to give us.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic

Letter to James Boswell (21 Aug 1766)
    (Source)

In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)