Mark Van Doren Quotes

No matter what I do, no matter how predictable I try to make my life, it will not be any more predictable than the rest of the world. Which is chaotic.

The complexity of the world is so overwhelming and so present to everyone.

A merciless fate threw me into this maelstrom … the gale of the world carried me away.

Destiny and history are untidy.

What does civilization mean to you, and what would its ending bring to the world?

And like a wind shall I one day blow amongst them and with my spirit take away their soul's breath: thus my future wills it.

Fate. You could never anticipate it.

Unfathomable Sea! whose waves are years, Ocean of Time, whose waters of deep woe Are brackish with the salt of human tears! Thou shoreless flood, which in thy ebb and flow Claspest the limits of mortality! And sick of prey, yet howling on for more, Vomitest thy wrecks on its inhospitable shore, Treacherous in calm, and terrible in storm, Who shall put forth on thee, Unfathomable sea?

Can you collect chaos? Not collecting, that is the ultimate gathering. What can you gather without gathering yourself.

Creativity is born of chaos, even if it is somewhat difficult to glimpse the possibilities in the midst of the confusion.

Chaos is impatient. It's random. And above all it's selfish. It tears down everything just for the sake of change, feeding on itself in constant hunger. But Chaos can also be appealing. It tempts you to believe that nothing matters except what you want.

We live in a world of guided missiles and misguided men.

This was the consequence of seeing too much and understanding the horrible truth: No one is safe. The world is not manageable.

Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts.

But I remember seeing a mess of leaves suddenly go skittering in the wind and into the creek, then floating rapidly down the creek towards the sea, making me feel a nameless horror even then of 'Oh my God, we're all being swept away to sea no matter what we know or say or do

Love is an untamed force. When we try to control it, it destroys us. When we try to imprison it, it enslaves us. When we try to understand it, it leaves us feeling lost and confused.

The world began in hazard and will end in it.

We are living in dangerously weird times now. Smart people just shrug and admit they're dazed and confused. The only ones left with any confidence at all are the New Dumb. It is the beginning of the end of our world as we knew it. Doom is the operative ethic.

I'm chaos, I've always been chaos, my point on Earth is chaos.

This is not anarchy, Eve. This is chaos.

I have a feeling I'm falling on rare occasions but most of the time I have my feet on the ground I can't help it if the ground itself is falling.

It is merely this world that is chaotic, bringing changes to us all that nobody could have anticipated.

The world never leaves one in ignorance or in peace.

Human destiny is bound to remain a gamble, because at some unpredictable time and in some unforeseeable manner nature will strike back.

The order I found was the order of disorder