I have a feeling that you’re riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I don’t honestly know what kind…. It may be the kind where, at the age of thirty, you sit in some bar hating everybody who comes in looking as if he might have played football in college. Then again, you may pick up just enough education to hate people who say, ‘It’s a secret between he and I.’ Or you may end up in some business office, throwing paper clips at the nearest stenographer. I just don’t know.
– J. D. Salinger
The Catcher in the Rye. Mr. Antolini in Chapter 24. Holden has sought out Mr. Antolini, a former teacher, to talk to. He has flunked out of school and is searching for direction. Mr. Antolini warns Holden that he is heading for a terrible fall.