A man falling off a cliff to certain death will stretch out a hand even to his worst enemy.

I always say, if you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips.

Life is a dream from which we all must wake before we can dream again.

You have made flowers grow where I cultivated dust and stones. Remember this, on this journey you insist on making. If you die, I will not survive you long.

Does it make you brave to stick your hand in a bear's mouth? Would you do it again just because you didn't die?

And maybe this whole thing has taught me something else about what kindness is for. Because, looking back at this year, I still basically did fail when I tried to protect everybody. But that doesn't mean my efforts didn't matter. Maybe kindness spreads slowly, and even fails for a while, but then sort of seeps through again and keeps moving outward, until you suddenly find yourself surrounded by a ring of fellow hamster owners who used to be your enemies.