Stones

As the builders say, the larger stones do not lie well without the lesser.
Plato

Crystals grew inside rock like arithmetic flowers. They lengthened and spread, added plane to plane in an awed and perfect obedience to an absolute geometry that even stones - maybe only the stones - understood.
Annie Dillard

If you would have your son to walk honourably through the world, you must not attempt to clear the stones from his path, but teach him to walk firmly over them - not insist upon leading him by the hand, but let him learn to go alone.
Anne Bronte

In the end, it all comes to choices to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.
Amber Frey