RIP Christopher Hitchens, who passed away last night after battling esophageal cancer:

"I can remember thinking, of testing moments involving love and hate, that I had, so to speak, come out of them ahead, with some strength accrued from the experience that I couldn’t have acquired any other way. And then once or twice, walking away from a car wreck or a close encounter with mayhem while doing foreign reporting, I experienced a rather fatuous feeling of having been toughened by the encounter. But really, that’s to say no more than 'There but for the grace of god go I,' which in turn is to say no more than 'The grace of god has happily embraced me and skipped that unfortunate other man.'" --Vanity Fair, Jan '12 issue