" But what is the sense in forever speculating what might have happened had such and such a moment turned out differently? . . . while it is all very well to talk of 'turning points,' one can surely only recognize such moments in retrospect. Naturally, when one looks back to such instances today, they may indeed take the appearance of being crucial, precious moments in one's life; but of course, at the time, this was not the impression one had . . . There was surely nothing to indicate at the time that such evidently small incidents would render whole dreams forever irredeemable. "

― Kazuo Ishiguro , The Remains of the Day