Slender Threads

Now and then it occurs to one to reflect upon what slender threads of accident depend the most important circumstances of his life; to look back and shudder, realizing how close to the edge of nothingness his being has come.

-- Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. (1878 - 1968), prolific American author who wrote in many genres, often advocating Socialist views, 100%: the Story of a Patriot, Section 1 (1920)