“We cross our bridges as we come to them and burn them behind us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell of smoke, and the presumption that once our eyes watered.”

Why is it great? Tom Stoppard is one of our greatest wordsmiths, wildly intelligent and witty, while still revealing the pathos of his characters. This line is a perfect example of his genius. It uses a metaphor, a bit of wordplay, to capture something deep about human existence. And the rhythm of the language as the sentence reaches its end is breathtakingly beautiful: “a memory of the smell of smoke, and the presumption that once our eyes watered.”