Greenleaf Book Group

“I remember thinking that if I jumped into the river the pain may go away. I raised my arms out to the side of my body and lowered my head. ‘Oh, God,’ I said, looking down at the half-shadowed stream, ‘why would you leave me here?”
― J. William Lewis, The Essence of Nathan Biddle

“I still don’t know whether Newt was serious, but the theory, which Newt called the Third Law of Hedonics (he never revealed the first and second laws), is that for every pleasure there is an equal and opposite pain. Conversely, according to the theory, for every pain there is an equal and opposite pleasure. Thus, pain and pleasure always balance out, so that a person can take heart in travail because he’s building up an account of pleasure due, which means that, at the appropriate time, he will become the beneficiary of a compensating joy.”
― J. William Lewis, The Essence of Nathan Biddle

“We all seem to have our own reality, and even more disturbing and unnerving, our realities too often seem not to correspond very well.”
― J. William Lewis, The Essence of Nathan Biddle

“It was like a race we’d tried to run until we discovered that there was no finish line.”
― J. William Lewis, The Essence of Nathan Biddle