Quotes About Uncertainty

E la strada è inquietudine, sempre e comunque, perché non c'è dubbio che ho capito male la vita e l'ho coltivata ancor peggio, ma tanto, mio caro, il risultato è lo stesso.

Wij hebben het nu over jou. Vergeet niet, ik ben notaris geweest. Ik maak die dingen altijd af. Wat wil jij worden?' 'Ik weet het niet.' Hij begreep dat dat geen goed antwoord was, maar het was het enige, zelfs als iemand graag altijd alles afmaakte. Hij had geen flauw idee. Eigenlijk wist hij zeker dat hij nooit iets wou, maar ook nooit iets zóú worden. De wereld was al boordevol met mensen die iets waren, en de meesten waren er duidelijk niet gelukkig mee.

I read once that despair... is when you are no longer able to sustain, even for the briefest moment, the notion that all will be well in the end.

It terrifies you. That you missed out on something. That you gave up something you didn't know you wanted." A sharp, pitying smile pinched the corners of her lips. "What was it? Was it a boy? Was it a vocation? Or was it a whole life?

He can guess, but he won't ever know, not really. What it was like, what she was thinking, everything she'd never told him. Whether she thought he'd failed her, or whether she wanted him to let her go. This, more than anything, makes him feel that she is gone.

He can guess, but he won't ever know, not really. What it was like, what she was thinking, everything she'd never told him.

But the problem with rules, he reflected, was that they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on.

All of that will be gone by morning. Instead, they will dissect this last evening for years to come. What had they missed that they should have seen? What small gesture, forgotten, might have changed everything? They will pick it down to the bones, wondering how this had all gone so wrong, and they will never be sure.

But the problem with rules, he reflected, was that they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on. He

how your life could trundle along on its safe little track and then, with no warning, skid spectacularly off course.

Ela havia aprendido (...) que a vida podia estar seguindo seu caminhozinho seguro e então, sem qualquer aviso, descarrilhar de forma impressionante.

the problem with rules, he reflected, was that they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on.

Most? What does that mean?

they implied a right way and a wrong way to do things. When, in fact, most of the time there were simply ways, none of them quite wrong or quite right, and nothing to tell you for sure which side of the line you stood on.

a haze of formless, pervasive emotion, nothing she could grasp, but full of looming thoughts that appeared from nowhere, startling her, then receded into whiteness again before she was even sure what she had seen.

was too much luck. He feared the day the universe would notice he wasn't supposed to have her and take her away. Or that she might suddenly realize her mistake and disappear from his life as suddenly as she had entered. After a while, the fear became a habit, too.

She had learned, with Izzy's birth, how your life could trundle along on its safe little track and then, with no warning, skid spectacularly off course.

Looking out over the lake, she could not know that in three months she would be at its bottom.

She had learned, with Izzy's birth, how your life could trundle along on its safe little track and then, with no warning, skid spectacularly off course. Every time Mrs. Richardson looked at Izzy, that feeling of things spiraling out of control coiled around her again, like a muscle she didn't know how to unclench.

Don't , she wanted to say, though she didn't know: don't what? She knew only that something was about to happen, and that nothing she could say or do would prevent it.

But I didn't know where she was going, Hannah whispers into the dark. I didn't know she was really going anywhere.

Of course Mirabelle would have a good life with Mark and Linda. There was no question about that. But would there be something—something—missing from her life if she were to grow up with them? Mr. Richardson was suddenly keenly conscious of Mirabelle, of the immense weight of the complicated world on this one tiny, vulnerable person.

What had they missed that they should have seen? What small gesture, forgotten, might have changed everything? They will pick it down to the bones, wondering how this had all gone so wrong, and they will never be sure.

Listen, I've been thinking. 8 million people. All those stories passing from mouth to ear. Would one person be compelled. One out of 8 million. A fraction of a fraction. But not nothing. Absorbing that story. Passing it on. Listen. Somewhere out there, saying to others at last. Listen. This isn't right. None of them are sure how this will work. Where they will go. How they will find their way. But it is not impossible and right now that feels like enough.