City of Miracles

It is a fool who lives his life believing the waves upon which he sails shall remember him. The seas know nothing.

“Going well or poorly isn’t the point,” she says quietly. “Those are short-term standards for short-term goals.”

“To live with hatred,” says Sigrud, “is like grabbing hot embers to throw them at someone you think an enemy. Who gets burned the worst?”

What a tremendous sin impatience is, he thinks. It blinds us to the moment before us, and it is only when that moment has passed that we look back and see it was full of treasures.

‘There is no such thing as a bad situation,’ ” he recites. “ ‘Only bad gear.’

People don’t change. Nations don’t change. They get changed. Reluctantly. And not without a fight.