"Its not bad luck, Bob knows, life's not that irrational an arrangement of forces; and though he's no genius, it's not plain stupidity, either, for too many stupid people get on in the world. Its dreams. And especially the dream of a new life, the dream of starting over. The more a man trades off his known life, the one in front of him that came to him by birth and the accidents and happenstance of youth, the more of that he trades for dreams of a new life, the less power he has. Bob Dubois believes this now. But he's fallen to a dark, cold place where the walls are sheer and slick, and all the exits have been sealed. He's alone. He's going to have to live here, if he's going to live at all. This is how a good man loses his goodness."