Let the Great World Spin

by Colum McCann

His theme was happiness—what it is and what it might not have been, where he might find it and where it might have disappeared.

Family is like water—it has a memory of what it once filled, always trying to get back to the original stream.

The simple things come back to us. They rest for a moment by our ribcages then suddenly reach in and twist our hearts a notch backward.

Goodness was more difficult than evil. Evil men knew that more than good men. That’s why they became evil.

Behind you will be a life that you never want to see again.

There is a still point where the present, the now, winds around itself, and nothing is tangled.