Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible

“Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible” is the Marcus Aurelius maxim placed at the opening of Chapter Twenty-Two. Its position gives the chapter a concise frame of persistence: immediately afterward, Angel struggles to keep her thoughts from returning to Michael and redirects herself toward her mother’s history.

Text and Attribution

The saying appears between the chapter number and the name Marcus Aurelius, identifying it as an epigraph rather than dialogue within the scene. The chapter opening offers no further explanation of the maxim, so its force comes from its placement and the action that follows.

Context and Significance

As Angel travels with Sam Teal’s wagon, the clatter of pots and pans recalls the wind chimes Michael had hung for her. She closes her eyes and sees his face, then tries to put him out of mind. The juxtaposition makes the maxim resonate with her immediate effort: difficulty is present not as an abstract obstacle, but as the painful work of directing her attention away from a beloved person.

Angel chooses to think instead of what love had brought her mother, hoping to keep her head straight. The epigraph’s assertion that difficulty should not be mistaken for impossibility thus precedes a small act of self-command, while leaving open how far that resolve can carry her.