And then it's gone.
This character says "You only get a couple of moments that determine your life. Sometimes only one. And then it's gone. Forever," after describing how he doesn't understand another person's description of how love can feel like taking a dive or like getting drowned.  One of his historical assignments is to research an ancestor who attended Transylvania College, Cass Mastern. Through most of the book in which he appears, he believes that his father is a scholarly attorney, when his biological father is actually a (*) judge named Irwin. After discovering that the only woman he has ever really loved, Anne Stanton, is sleeping with his boss, he develops a philosophy reminiscent of anomie, which he dubs the "Great Twitch". For ten points, name this character who works for Willie Stark in Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men.
This character says "You only get a couple of moments that determine your life.
{Jack} {Burden} (accept either name)