“How often it is a small, almost unconscious event that makes a turning point.”

“Of course, that’s how life is. A turn of events may seem very small at the time it’s happening, but you never really know, do you? How can you?”

“It is very rare or almost impossible that an event can be negative from all points of view.”

“The business of the novelist is not to relate great events, but to make small ones interesting.”

“The events of one’s life take place, take place. How often have I used this expression, and how often have I stopped to think about what it means? Events do indeed take place, they have meaning in relation to things around them.”

“Yet how often is it that we are rescued by a stranger, if ever at all? And how is it that our lives can become drained of the possibility of forgiveness and kindness - so drained that even one small act of mercy becomes a potent lifelong memory? How do our lives reach these points?”