The sons of Judah have to choose that God may again choose them. The divine principle of our race is action, choice, resolved memory.

But Fielding lived when the days were longer (for time, like money, is measured by our needs), when summer afternoons were spacious, and the clock ticked slowly in the winter evenings.

Yes, that's the worst of it. It's a desperately vexatious thing that, after all one's reflections and quiet determinations, we should be ruled by moods that one can't calculate on beforehand.

Can any man or woman choose duties? No more that they can choose their birthplace, or their father or mother.

The writer and the dreamer have so much in common: They can't control the plot, they are always part of the story or the dream.

The reality is that everyone is responsible for their own life. We're dealt certain cards at birth, and we play our hand; some of us lose, but others may play skillfully from the same bad hand and triumph. Our cards determine who we are: age, gender, race, family, nationality, etc., and we can't change them, only play them to the best of our abilities. The game is marked by challenges and chances, strategizing and cheating.

The reality is that everyone is responsible for their own life. We're dealt certain cards at birth, and we play our hand; some of us lose, but others may play skillfully from the same bad hand and triumph.

Recently, a busload of us tourists crossing the border between Chile and Argentina had to wait an hour and a half while our documents were checked. Getting through the Berlin Wall was easier. Kafka was Chilean.

You never know what will happen. There is a thing called zeitgeist. You have to hit it.

God asks no man whether he will accept life. This is not the choice. You must take it. The only question is how.

Very few live by choice. Every man is placed in his present condition by causes which acted without his foresight, and with which he did not always willingly cooperate; and therefore you will rarely meet one who does not think the lot of his neighbor better than his own.

Born on Monday, fair in the face; Born on Tuesday, full of God's grace; Born on Wednesday, sour and sad; Born on Thursday, merry and glad; Born on Friday, worthily given;