Mike Blyth

“The characteristic feature of all ethics is to consider human life as a game that can be won or lost and to teach man the means of winning.”
― Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity

“When he was halfway to the church, the twister appeared in the distance at two o’clock, a dark black finger reaching down from the sky—the inversion of the steeple both in color and intent.”
― Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway

“his obligations were few. They could, in fact, be boiled down to one: to find the one who had taken his wife and child from this world and tear him apart.”
― John Connolly, The Dirty South

“Well—I have to say I personally have never drawn such a sharp line between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ as you. For me: that line is often false. The two are never disconnected. One can’t exist without the other. As long as I am acting out of love, I feel I am doing best I know how. But you—wrapped up in judgment, always regretting the past, cursing yourself, blaming yourself, asking ‘what if,’ ‘what if.’ ‘Life is cruel.’ ‘I wish I had died instead of.’ Well—think about this. What if all your actions and choices, good or bad, make no difference to God? What if the pattern is pre-set? No no—hang on—this is a question worth struggling with. What if our badness and mistakes are the very thing that set our fate and bring us round to good? What if, for some of us, we can’t get there any other way?”
― Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch