Coincidence Quotes - Page 17

• He was too young to know that, in any novel with a reasonable amount of forethought, there were no coincidences.

  John Irving

  Young, Novel, Forethought

  "John Irving's Last Night in Twisted River". Interview with Ramona Koval, www.abc.net.au. January 29, 2010.

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• I have come to understand that life is composed of a series of coincidences. How we react to these - how we exercise what some refer to as free will - is everything; the choices we make within the boundaries of the twists of fate determine who we are.

  John Perkins

  Fate, Exercise, Choices

  John Perkins (2016). “The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man”, p.30, Berrett-Koehler Publishers

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• And after awhile of this my brain and my body and every single inch of me that was alive was flooded with the feeling that I was starving, starving for Edmond. And what a coincidence, that was the feeling I loved best in the world.

  Meg Rosoff

  Feelings, Brain, Alive

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• We may finally ask ourselves whether coincidence really does exist. Maybe everybody we run into is walking around near us with the undying hope of meeting us? To think of it, it's a fact that they often seem out of breath.

  David Foenkinos

  Running, Thinking, Doe

  David Foenkinos (2011). “Delicacy”, p.141, A&C Black

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• Are you aware that rushing toward a goal is a sublimated death wish? It's no coincidence we call them 'deadlines.'

  Tom Robbins

  Rushing, Goal, Wish

  "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas". Book by Tom Robbins, 1994.

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• You are meant to be here. There are no coincidences. It's all happening the way it was meant to be.

  Anthony Horowitz

  Way, Were Meant To Be, Happenings

  Anthony Horowitz (2012). “The Gatekeepers #1: Raven's Gate”, p.145, Scholastic Inc.

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• First time's a fluke; second time's a coincidence," said Velius. "Third time's tradition," finished Erik.

  Alethea Kontis

  Firsts, Flukes, Tradition

  Alethea Kontis (2012). “Enchanted”, p.240, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• So it's a coincidence. Just like you said. Two rich parents with two rich kids at the same school. They're both killed in accidents. Why are you so interested?" "Because I don't like coincidence," Blunt replied. "In fact, I don't believe in coincidence. Where some people see coincidence, I see conspiracy. That's my job.

  Anthony Horowitz

  Jobs, Believe, School

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• The human mind delights in finding pattern—so much so that we often mistake coincidence or forced analogy for profound meaning. No other habit of thought lies so deeply within the soul of a small creature trying to make sense of a complex world not constructed for it.

  Stephen Jay Gould

  Mistake, Lying, Profound

  Stephen Jay Gould (2010). “The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections in Natural History”, p.199, W. W. Norton & Company

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• People took what they wanted, they clutched at coincidences, the few there were, and made a life from them. . . . Choices are made in brief seconds and paid for in the time that remains.

  Paolo Giordano

  People, Choices, Made

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• It is easy to see things in retrospect. But I was ignorant then of everything but my own happiness, and I don’t know what else to say except that life itself seemed very magical in those days: a web of symbol, coincidence, premonition, omen. Everything, somehow, fit together; some sly and benevolent Providence was revealing itself by degrees and I felt myself trembling on the brink of a fabulous discovery, as though any morning it was all going to come together–my future, my past, the whole of my life–and I was going to sit up in bed like a thunderbolt and say oh! oh! oh!

  Donna Tartt

  Morning, Past, Discovery

  Donna Tartt (2011). “The Secret History”, p.88, Vintage

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• The ambivalence of writing is such that it can be considered both an act and an interpretive process that follows after an act with which it cannot coincide. As such, it both affirms and denies its own nature.

  Paul de Man

  Nature, Writing, Deny

  Paul de Man (2013). “Blindness and Insight: Essays in the Rhetoric of Contemporary Criticism”, p.152, Routledge

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• In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen. The dogma of science is that the will cannot possibly affect external forces, and I think that’s just ridiculous. It’s as bad as the church. My viewpoint is the exact contrary of the scientific viewpoint. I believe that if you run into somebody in the street it’s for a reason.

  William S. Burroughs

  Running, Believe, Thinking

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• When you have competing companies that are engaging in the raising of prices in lock step with each other, you have to question whether or not this in coincidence or price fixing. With the merger of Exxon and Mobil and Chevron and Texaco, we have very little competition among the energy companies.

  Jeanine Pirro

  Competition, Energy, Locks

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• Every instance since the beginning of time has been a coincidence: A leaf in a tree embodies the combined efforts of the earth, water, wind, stars, and sunshine. When you realize that everything has led to the present, to this moment, you see there's nothing to be afraid of, nothing to be burdened by. The present moment is the moment of arrival - and it took the entire universe to create it. All is as it should be.

  Deepak Chopra

  Stars, Sunshine, Wind

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• My wife and I have now founded Lavender Pictures. If one has one's own company, there are very few surprises, but there's still the actual thrill of trying to get these projects off the ground. We're meeting with some measure of success. Always, now and at any stage of my career, I'm open to ambush, but there have been the most extraordinary set of coincidences, which continues through my journey, and I find it thrilling. Often, out of left field and quite randomly, comes a project and I think, "My god, there you are!" It's quite beautiful, really.

  Ben Kingsley

  Beautiful, Journey, Thinking

  Source: collider.com

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• Intolerance has always been one of the cornerstones of Christianity - the glorious heritage of the Inquisition. It's no coincidence that most of my abusive mail - sentencing me to exquisite Oriental tortures and relegating me to hell-fire and damnation -comes from self-admitted Catholics.

  Madalyn Murray O'Hair

  Fire, Self, Catholic

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• It is no coincidence that the words 'trying' and 'dying' are only a few letters apart.

  Mitch Albom

  Dying, Trying, Letters

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• There are a great many good people, and a great many sane people here this afternoon. Unfortunately, by a kind of coincidence, all the good people are mad, and all the sane people are wicked.

  Gilbert K. Chesterton

  People, Mad, Wicked

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• And behind it lies not blind chance but a principle that works to help us understand, a thousand "coincidences" and friends come to show us the way when the problem seems too hard to solve alone. Problems for overcoming. Freedom for proving. And, as long as we believe in our dream, nothing by chance.

  Richard Bach

  Dream, Lying, Believe

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• As it happened, all three of us turned out to be real writers--a coincidence almost too large to be termed mere coincidence in a society where literally tens of thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of college students aspire to the writer's trade and where bare hundreds actually break through.

  Stephen King

  Real, College, Break Through

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• it is wrong to chide the novel for being fascinated by mysterious coincidences... but it is right to chide man for being blind to such coincidences in his daily life. For he thereby deprives his life a dimension of beauty.

  Milan Kundera

  Men, Mysterious, Daily Life

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• Yet, when these facts are seen side by side with other facts in the case, it is difficult not to become lost in superstitious awe. Their very absurdity seems to prohibit the use of the words 'chance' and 'coincidence.' For the sceptic there remains only one consolation: if there should be such a thing as superhuman Law, it is administered with sub-human inefficiency.

  Eric Ambler

  Law, Use, Facts

  Eric Ambler (1992). “A Coffin for Dimitrios/Judgement on Deltchev/Passage of Arms: Three Complete Novels in One Volume”, Galahad Books

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• how can the world in all its chaos come up with so many coincidences, so many similarities and exact opposites?

  Amy Tan

  Opposites, World, Chaos

  Amy Tan (2006). “The Joy Luck Club: A Novel”, p.117, Penguin

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• We have certain differences over the ways to pursue our goals, but our final aims coincide, in my opinion.

  Sergey Lavrov

  Differences, Goal, Finals

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