“None of us knows how we will cope with snakes until the moment arises, and then most of us find out that we do not do it very well.”

“most of us, as we undergo the growing up process, do not get what we want or even what we should. We get what we have, and no more, and we find out how to make what we have work for us.”

“How easy it is to think well of ourselves. Until the moment is upon us, we can never be certain.”

“Sometimes, we do things that are bad for us in an effort to cope with problems.”

“When we last out at ourselves for having lost control, we are reminded that we never can be in total control, that all life asks of us is to do our best to cope with what is handed to us.”

“But who can foresee such things? None of us can predict the final outcomes of our actions, and few of us even try; most of us just do what we do to prolong a moment's pleasure or to stop the pain. And even when we act for the noblest reasons, the last link of the chain all too often drips with someone's blood.”