The Crossing (The Border Trilogy, #2)

by Cormac McCarthy

Between their acts and their ceremonies lies the world and in this world the storms blow and the trees twist in the wind and all the animals that God has made go to and fro yet this world men do not see. They see the acts of their own hands or they see that which they name and call out to one another but the world between is invisible to them.

He had no faith in the power of men to act wisely in their own behalf. It was his view rather that every act soon eluded the grasp of its propagator to be swept away in a clamorous tide of unforeseen consequence.

He said that far from making men reflective or wise it was his experience that death often leads them to attribute great consequence to trivial things.

Yeah. He aint here to say though, is he? I dont know. Someways I think he’ll always have a say.

while it was true that time heals bereavement it does so only at the cost of the slow extinction of those loved ones from the heart’s memory which is the sole place of their abode

She said that to be a woman was to live a life of difficulty and heartbreak and those who said otherwise simply had no wish to face the facts.

And she said that since this was so nor could it be altered one was better to follow one’s heart in joy and in misery than simply to seek comfort for there was none.

in every family there is one who is different and the others believe that they know that person but they do not know that person.

I went to Fort Sumner to try and find her grave but I couldnt find it. Her name was Margaret. I always liked that name for a girl. If I ever had a girl that’s what I’d name her.