Think of a Number (Dave Gurney, #1)

by John Verdon

How many bright angels can dance on a pin? How many hopes drown in a bottle of gin? Did the thought ever come that your glass was a gun and one day you’d wonder, God, what have I done?

What you took you will give when you get what you gave. I know what you think, when you blink, where you’ve been, where you’ll be. You and I have a date, Mr. 658.

“I do what I’ve done not for money or fun but for debts to be paid, amends to be made. For blood that’s as red as a painted rose. So every man knows he reaps what he sows.”

Of all the truths you can’t remember, here are the truest two: Every act demands its price. And every price comes due. I’ll call tonight to promise you I’ll see you in November or, if not, in December.

Let me put it this way: It didn’t matter enough to keep him from lying and stealing. It only mattered enough to eat away like acid at his self-esteem when he did lie and steal. It mattered just enough to make him hate himself and wish he was dead.”

The mind is a mass of contradictions and conflicts. We lie to make others trust us. We hide our true selves in the pursuit of intimacy. We chase happiness in ways that drive happiness away. When we’re wrong we fight the hardest to prove we’re right.”

“The purpose of life is to get as close as we can to other people.”

“An isolated life is a wasted life.”