“Remember the Duomo," he said. "Bruneschelli just proceeded brick by brick. He never knew what he would do from one day to the next. He worked in faith, and according to the legend he never doubted that the next step to creating the world's first dome would be given to him in the moment that he needed it. He never saw the end from the beginning. None of us do.”
“Jem always said that Will rushed toward the end of a mission rather than proceeding in a measured manner, and that one must look at the next step on the path ahead, rather than the destination in the distance, or one would never reach one’s goal. Will closed his eyes for a moment. He knew that Jem was right, but it was hard to remember, when the goal that he sought was the girl that he loved.”
“The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.”
“The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.”
“The boy Paco had never known about any of this nor about what all these people would be doing on the next day and on other days to come. He had no idea how they really lived nor how they ended. He did not even realize they ended.”