When I looked at the painting I felt the same convergence on a single point: a glancing sun-struck instance that existed now and forever. Only occasionally did I notice the chain on the finch's ankle, or think what a cruel life for a little living creature—fluttering briefly, forced always to land in the same hopeless place.

The Goldfinch: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction) (ed. Little, Brown, 2013) - ISBN: 9780316248679