“Something happens, Blue thinks, and then it goes on happening forever. It can never be changed, can never be otherwise.”

“He has been marked by the past, and once that happens, nothing can bedone about it. Something happens, Blue thinks, and then it goes on happening forever. It can never be changed, can never be otherwise.”

“You think it will never happen to you, that it cannot happen to you, that you are the only person in the world to whom none of these things will ever happen, and then, one by one, they all begin to happen to you, in the same way they happen to everyone else.”

“Just think it, and chances are it will happen.”

“We all want to believe in impossible things, I suppose, to persuade ourselves that miracles can happen.”

“It often happens that things are other than what they seem, and you can get yourself into trouble by jumping to conclusions.”

“I make no excuse for what happened. Drunkenness is never more than a symptom, not an absolute cause, and I realize that it would be wrong of me to try to defend myself. Nevertheless, there is at least the possibility of an explanation.”