Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.

The image of a “boat of life” suggests life as a journey where excess weight—possessions, ambitions, and complications—can hinder progress and increase the risk of capsizing. The speaker advocates deliberate simplicity: modest domestic comfort, a few genuine friendships, mutual love, companionship with animals, and small everyday pleasures. The humorous, slightly hedonistic coda about having “a little more than enough to drink” (because “thirst is a dangerous thing”) undercuts moralizing and fits Jerome’s comic style, implying that moderation should still leave room for conviviality. Overall, the passage praises a light, humane life oriented toward affection and contentment rather than accumulation.