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1 " Actually, I came because I have a last-minute invitation. My friend Erika Gill is having a big party tomorrow night, one of those all-out birthday bashes that girls like. Want to go?" ----------------------------------------" No. Sorry." " Since it's a catered thing, at a restaurant, I'll pick you up at- what did you say?" " I'm sorry. I can't do it." ----------------------------------------" You're busy?" " I just can't do it," I said. "
2 " Life turns on small choices.A last-minute decision to take a shortcut over a snowy pass.A shrugging dismissal of the odd-looking man in the long coat standing off to one side.A decision to postpone a physical exam till a less busy time.A word spoken with the best intentions.Looking back, after the lives are destroyed, the blood spilt, the families shattered, and even the courses of nations changed forever, the mistakes that started the doomsday clock ticking down often seem minor, even innocent-even virtuous. So easy to make.David Eller would give anything-no, everything-to go back and undo those mistakes. But life does not give us that chance. Like everyone else, he has no choice but to dangle from the hand of that clock, trying in vain to pull them backward as they tick inexorably toward zero. "
― , The Missionary
3 " A sprinkle of last-minute despair gives a soul an agreeably earthy aftertaste. "
― David Mitchell , Slade House
4 " This was it. This would be my final mission. An overwhelming sadness swept over me at the realization. There would be no more racing across campus to replace the missing arm of the Caesar Augustus statue with one made of pink duct tape. My mind would no longer be used as a photographic tool to unveil a terrorist’s plan. No more last-minute science experiments to help rescue a father and daughter from a terrorist organization. I wouldn’t get to rescue myself with the aid of a Millard-enhanced device. No more disguises involving wigs and glasses to save a Van Gogh painting. The Mariinsky Theatre, the Superman building, the Louvre—my stories would disappear, along with my memories. Light had vanished around me as the ocean swallowed me. I’d been unable to save a helpless girl from her evil kidnapper. In the darkness I heard Daly’s voice, clear and strong, almost like he was there. Don’t give up. Fight. Push yourself. Alexandra Stewart can make a masterpiece out of any canvas. He was right—I couldn’t give up. (page 206) "
― Robin M. King , Memory of Monet (Remembrandt, #3)
5 " We made a successful, last-minute effort to get the French Open many years ago, when the USA network bailed on it. I remember, four of us jumped on a plane on the spur of the moment to cover it. I think we had someone draw up a sign (by hand) that we could hold up in front of the camera to tell viewers that it was ESPN coverage. "
― Patrick McEnroe , Hardcourt Confidential: Tales from Twenty Years in the Pro Tennis Trenches
6 " I like to decide the night before Thanksgiving that I'm gonna do it, and I'll see what riff raff is around. Then I get that last-minute surge of energy. But if I had two weeks to plan, sometimes I wish I wasn't doing it. But very seldom does that happen. "
