A Fine Balance

by Rohinton Mistry

A lifetime had to be crafted, just like anything else, she thought, it had to be moulded and beaten and burnished in order to get the most out of it.

Flirting with madness was one thing; when madness started flirting back, it was time to call the whole thing off.

There was no such thing as perfect privacy, life was a perpetual concert-hall recital with a captive audience.

the past could only be imperfectly distanced. It was a slippery thing, he discovered, slithering into the present at the least excuse, dodging the strongest defences.

Please always remember, the secret of survival is to embrace change, and to adapt. To quote: “All things fall and are built again, and those that build them again are gay.”’

Sometimes you have to use your failures as stepping-stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair.’

Independence came at a high price: a debt with a payment schedule of hurt and regret.

Where humans were concerned, the only emotion that made sense was wonder, at their ability to endure; and sorrow, for the hopelessness of it all.

‘After all, our lives are but a sequence of accidents – a clanking chain of chance events. A string of choices, casual or deliberate, which add up to that one big calamity we call life.’

Loss is essential. Loss is part and parcel of that necessary calamity called life.’