You call forth the world which God has formed and that world only. Nor is this life of yours by which you set such store your doing, however you may choose to tell it. Its shape was forced in the void at the onset and all talk of what might otherwise have been is senseless for there is no otherwise. Of what could it be made? Where be hid? Or how make its appearance? The probability fo the actual is absolute. That we have no power to guess it out beforehand makes it no less certain. That we may imagine alternate histories means nothing at all. Cormac McCarthy
About This Quote

The world is not made by us. All that is in the world is only the appearance of the world, and the appearance of what is does not come out of it, for no appearance can exist without something behind to shape it. Nor is this life which men call life. It is the creation of God who proceeds by his own power and has no need of any creature to do so.

If there were another life, it would have to be another creation. Its shape would have to be forced out of the void at the onset; otherwise, there would be nothing to make it come into existence.

Source: Cities Of The Plain

Some Similar Quotes
  1. The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool. - William Shakespeare

  2. The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times. - Paulo Coelho

  3. It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. - Aristotle

  4. The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them. - Paulo Coelho

  5. By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. - Confucius

More Quotes By Cormac McCarthy
  1. You have my whole heart. You always did.

  2. People were always getting ready for tomorrow. I didn't believe in that. Tomorrow wasn't getting ready for them. It didn't even know they were there.

  3. He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. <span style="margin:15px; display:block"></span>The crushing...

  4. Just remember that the things you put into your head are there forever, he said. You might want to think about that. You forget some things, dont you? Yes. You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget.

  5. Nobody wants to be here and nobody wants to leave.

Related Topics