One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories

by B.J. Novak

slow and steady wins the race, till truth and talent claim their place.

I think it’s better to not know certain things. It gives the world an extra bit of mystery, which is important to us as human beings.

It was a far deeper and sharper moment of first love than the first first moment of first love, because now, not only was he falling in love, but he was falling in love with someone he loved;

It was a good thing they were already used to love, or they might have fainted from the size of the feeling.

“‘Good writers borrow, great writers steal.’”

As they began the walk to the car, Don turned abruptly toward his son. “Hey. I thought that you said ‘constructive criticism.’” “Yeah!” said Don Junior. “I was criticizing your construction.” “That’s, no. That’s… I guess, that would be ‘construction criticism.’” “What’s ‘con-struct-ive criti-cism’?” asked Don Junior. “‘Constructive criticism’ is when you give criticism when the person still has time to make it better. It’s meant to be helpful, not hurtful.” “Ohhhhhhhhh,” said Don Junior, sounding like a ten-year-old again. “We just learned about it in school. I must have gotten it mixed up.”

It’s not always enough to be brave, I realized years later. You have to be brave and contribute something positive, too. Brave on its own is just a party trick.

“All happy families are alike. “Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” — ANNA KARENINA, LEO TOLSTOY, TRANS. J. C. AUDETAT

Do you think “why not?” is ultimately a better question than “why?”