“When a pebble is thrown into a lake, everything, down to the furthermost depths, moves with it. ... And if, afterwards, everything seems as it was, the level of the lake has none the less been raised by imperceptible, incalculable degree. The old order has been overthrown -- by a pebble.”
“When the lake freezes, everything seems lifeless.”
“...but Lake Pepin might be best known to most of the world as the place where, more than a hundred and thirty years ago, a little kid picked up too many pebbles.”
“Everything that ever has been always will be, and everything that ever will be always has been.”
“Everything has not been lost, but everything has sensed that it might perish.”
“They might just as well have been throwing pebbles into an empty cave.”