There is no complete life. There are only fragments. We are born to have nothing, to have it pour through our hands. And yet, this pouring, this flood of encounters, struggles, dreams ... one must be unthinking, like a tortoise. One must be resolute, blind. For whatever we do, even whatever we do not do, prevents us from doing the opposite. Acts demolish their alternative, that is the paradox. So that life is a matter of choices ... like dropping stones into the sea.
- James Salter, Light Years