“he knew that fate was only a mythological concept”

“The concept of a weary severed hand, exhausted from relentless creeping, made no sense.”

“He would pray...for everyone who knew pain, which meant everyone who wore a human face.”

“Not all or even most suffering is at the hands of fate; it befalls us at our invitation.”

“Holy men tell us life is a mystery.They embrace that concept happily.But some mysteries bite and barkand come to get you in the dark.”

“Fate isn’t one straight road…there are forks in it, many different routes to different ends. We have the free will to choose the path.”

“The opportunity to love a dog and to treat it with kindness is an opportunity for a lost and selfish heart to be redeemed. They are powerless and innocent, and it is how we treat the humblest among us that surely determines the fate of our souls”