Still, it was no easy thing to flirt in German. - Michael Swanwick

Second chances were so rare in this world to be almost miracles.

He stood unmoving, wondering at his own abrupt and incomprehensible inability to act. He did not fear damnation. Nor did he give a fig for the common opinion of Mankind. There was nothing to stop him but fear alone—fear that his reasoning was wrong.

This is the price you must pay for knowledge: You must understand and acknowledge its consequences.