A piano might fall on your head, he said, but it also might not. And in the meantime you never know. Something nice might happen.

At the time, I didn't have the insight to wonder at the transient nature of despair, but now that I'm older I've seen how little it takes to turn a person's life around for better or worse. An event will do, or an Idea. Another person. An idea of a person.

The soldier had stamped my passport FAMILY in heavy black capital letters and I checked it now for reassurance and because I liked how fierce the word looked

I, a late riser, fantasise about getting up every morning at 5 A.M. to fetch the horses in from the fields.

She frowned at him. 'You are in love with solitude.' 'Is there a better cure for the world than solitude?

Ask any comedian, tennis player, chef. Timing is everything.

Every war has turning points and every person too.