The very shaping of history now outpaces the ability of men to orient themselves in accordance with cherished values. And which values? Even when they do not panic, men often sense that older ways of feeling and thinking have collapsed and that newer beginnings are ambiguous to the point of moral stasis.

The novel is the art of the possible, and the possible is always more terrifying than the real.

Life is about timing. The right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing.