Looking for Alaska

by John Green

“Sometimes you lose a battle. But mischief always wins the war.”

There comes a time when we realize that our parents cannot save themselves or save us, that everyone who wades through time eventually gets dragged out to sea by the undertow—that, in short, we are all going.

Meriwether Lewis’s last words were, “I am not a coward, but I am so strong. So hard to die.” I don’t doubt that it is, but it cannot be much harder than being left behind.

If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we can’t know better until knowing better is useless.