Wallace Stegner 의 소설 "Angle of Repose"에서

 

   "Because my grandfather was a man who couldn't forget,"

I said. "Forget or forgive."

   "He sound like a hard man."

   on the contrary, he was soft. People imposed on him.

Grandmother always said he was too trusting. Actually he

never expected much of people, and so he wasn't upset

if they turned out to be shysters or cheaters or crooks.

But s few people he trusted absolutely. It was when they

betrayed him that he turned to rock." (p 615)

   "But you fond of her too."

   "I loved her. She was a lady."

   "A lady who made a terrible mistake."

   "And recognized it," I said. "Admitted it, repented it,

accepted the consequences, did her best to live it down.

Her real mistake was that she never appreciated him enough

until it was too late."

   "What makes you think ..."

   "But he never forgave her," I said. "She broke something

she couldn't mend. In all the years I lived with them I never

saw them kiss, I never saw them put their arms around each

other, I never saw them touch." (p 625)

   Wisdom ... is knowing what you have to accept. In this

not-quite-quiet darkness ... I lie wondering if I am man

enough to be a bigger man than my grandfather. (p 632)

Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose (1971)