I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.

Ackerman contrasts “length” (the sheer duration of a life) with “width” (its richness, variety, and depth). The line argues that a meaningful life is not measured only by years lived but by the range of experiences embraced—intellectual, emotional, aesthetic, and moral. “Width” implies curiosity, risk, empathy, and engagement with the world: traveling beyond routine, cultivating relationships, learning, and paying close attention to nature and culture. The quote’s force comes from its spatial metaphor, turning time into a dimension that can be expanded through choice, presence, and openness rather than passively endured.