--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: To submit to chance is to reveal the self…" description: "\"To submit to chance is to reveal the self and its obsessions.\" — Charles Simic" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68b/charles-simic-9906_chance_to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-sel_2449315.png" --- # To submit to chance is to reveal the self and its… ![“To submit to chance is to reveal the self and its obsessions.” quote by Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68b/charles-simic-9906_chance_to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-sel_2449315.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68b/charles-simic-9906_chance_to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-sel_2449315.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68b/charles-simic-9906_chance_to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-sel_2449315.png) > “To submit to chance is to reveal the self and its obsessions.” [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Yielding to randomness exposes personal desires and hidden compulsions, showing how chance can uncover inner truths. **In simple terms:** Chance reveals our hidden obsessions. Key Takeaway Embrace uncertainty to discover self. Themes self-awareness randomness psychology Mood introspective thoughtful Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - creative writing - therapy sessions - personal reflection - decision making Key Concepts existentialism self-discovery Questions to Reflect On - How does randomness affect your self‑perception? - What obsessions surface when you let go of control? A Different Perspective Random events may not always lead to insight; context matters. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Chance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Luck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/luck/) [Obsession](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/obsession/) [Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/self/) ## Related quotes > [Of course I will submit if I have a chance, but I always prefer to finish a fight in a stand-up position.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mirko-cro-cop/of-course-i-will-submit-if-i-have-a-chance-but-i-always-prefer-to/) [Mirko Cro Cop](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mirko-cro-cop/) > [Time and chance reveal all secrets.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/delarivier-manley/time-and-chance-reveal-all-secrets/) [Delarivier Manley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/delarivier-manley/) > [“She didn't wallow in problems or reveal self-doubt.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-biskupic/she-didn-t-wallow-in-problems-or-reveal-self-doubt/) [Joan Biskupic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-biskupic/) > [“It is amazing how little we know about ourselves. God has o take us through all kinds of failures to reveal the self-focused pride…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/june-hunt/it-is-amazing-how-little-we-know-about-ourselves-god-has-o-take-us/) [June Hunt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/june-hunt/) > [...an imagined town is at least as real as an actual town. If it isn't, you may be in the wrong business. Our words…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-hugo/an-imagined-town-is-at-least-as-real-as-an-actual-town-if-it-isn-t/) [Richard Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-hugo/) > [The most devastating thing though that biology did to Christianity was the discovery of biological evolution. Now that we know that Adam and Eve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-zindler/the-most-devastating-thing-though-that-biology-did-to-christianity/) [Frank Zindler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-zindler/) > [There is a destiny in war, to which a brave man knows how to submit with the same courage that he faces his foes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-f-cooper/there-is-a-destiny-in-war-to-which-a-brave-man-knows-how-to-submit/) [James F. Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-f-cooper/) > [Nothing, not even the best and noblest, can go on as it now is. Nothing, not even what is lowest and most bestial, will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/nothing-not-even-the-best-and-noblest-can-go-on-as-it-now-is-nothing/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Habit is altogether too arbitrary a master for me to submit to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-kaspar-lavater/habit-is-altogether-too-arbitrary-a-master-for-me-to-submit-to/) [Johann Kaspar Lavater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-kaspar-lavater/) > [When members unite with the church, they should not only make a profession of faith in Christ (that is essential), but in light of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jay-adams/when-members-unite-with-the-church-they-should-not-only-make-a/) [Jay Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jay-adams/) > [It is one thing to praise discipline, and another to submit to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-de-cervantes/it-is-one-thing-to-praise-discipline-and-another-to-submit-to-it/) [Miguel de Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-de-cervantes/) > [A contract is an ask game, and if it asks for an hour, and I submit to an hour, then it's an hour. When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-berry/a-contract-is-an-ask-game-and-if-it-asks-for-an-hour-and-i-submit-to/) [Chuck Berry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-berry/) > [ Anthropology has always struggled with an intense, fascinated repulsion towards its subject… \[The anthropologist\] submits himself to the exotic to confirm his own inner… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/anthropology-has-always-struggled-with-an-intense-fascinated/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) > [I would have let you shoot me without further ado! But it is not possible to hang the German Reichsmarschall! I cannot permit this.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-goring/i-would-have-let-you-shoot-me-without-further-ado-but-it-is-not/) [Hermann Goring](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-goring/) > [The State must act as the guardian of a millennial future in the face of which the wishes and the selfishness of the individual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/the-state-must-act-as-the-guardian-of-a-millennial-future-in-the-face/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) ## More by Charles Simic > [“Lyric poets are always corrupting the young, making them choke in self-pity and indulge in reverie. Dirty sex and direspect for authority is what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/lyric-poets-are-always-corrupting-the-young-making-them-choke-in-self/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [“There’s a book called “A Dictionary of Angels.” No one has opened it in fifty years, I know, because when I did, The covers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/there-s-a-book-called-a-dictionary-of-angels-no-one-has-opened-it-in/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/poetry-is-an-orphan-of-silence-the-words-never-quite-equal-the/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [“The truth is dark under your eyelids. What are you going to do about it? The birds are silent; there's no one to ask.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/the-truth-is-dark-under-your-eyelids-what-are-you-going-to-do-about/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/wanted-a-needle-swift-enough-to-sew-this-poem-into-a-blanket/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [In their effort to divorce language and experience, deconstructionist critics remind me of middle-class parents who do not allow their children to play in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/in-their-effort-to-divorce-language-and-experience-deconstructionist/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [“The ambition of much of today's literary theory seems to be to find ways to read literature without imagination.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/the-ambition-of-much-of-today-s-literary-theory-seems-to-be-to-find/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [Poems are other people's snapshots in which we see our own lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/poems-are-other-people-s-snapshots-in-which-we-see-our-own-lives/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [“The Something" Here come my night thoughts On crutches, Returning from studying the heavens. What they thought about Stayed the same, Stayed immense and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/the-something-here-come-my-night-thoughts-on-crutches-returning-from/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [There are knives that glitter like altars In a dark church Where they bring the cripple and the imbecile To be healed. There's a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/there-are-knives-that-glitter-like-altars-in-a-dark-church-where-they/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [“هندوانه بودای سبز بر پیشخوان میوه فروش لبخندش را گاز میزنیم و دندانهایش را تف میکنیم :: Watermelons Green Buddhas On the fruit stand. We eat the smile And spit out the teeth.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/watermelons-green-buddhas-on-the-fruit-stand-we-eat-the-smile-and/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [Words make love on the page like flies in the summer heat and the poet is only the bemused spectator.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/words-make-love-on-the-page-like-flies-in-the-summer-heat-and-the/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [“The idea is to spin the wheel of metaphors and images until sparks of associations begin to fly for the reader.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/the-idea-is-to-spin-the-wheel-of-metaphors-and-images-until-sparks-of/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [Found objects, chance creations, ready-mades (mass-produced items promoted into art objects, such as Duchamp's "Fountain"-urinal as sculpture) abolish the separation between art and life.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/found-objects-chance-creations-ready-mades-mass-produced-items/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) > [The plain truth is we are going to die. Here I am, a teeny spec surrounded by boundless space and time, arguing with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/the-plain-truth-is-we-are-going-to-die-here-i-am-a-teeny-spec/) [Charles Simic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) [Explore all 69 Charles Simic quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/) ## More Chance quotes > [Before I debuted, it was my goal to make my debut, and afterwards, I aimed at winning champion titles on television music shows, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hyuna/before-i-debuted-it-was-my-goal-to-make-my-debut-and-afterwards-i/) [Hyuna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hyuna/) > [I understand it's promotion, but no one ever gave me a chance. No one ever thought I'd be the champ, and look where I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stipe-miocic/i-understand-it-s-promotion-but-no-one-ever-gave-me-a-chance-no-one/) [Stipe Miocic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stipe-miocic/) > [I might, by chance, write something just as shoddy; But then I wouldn't show it to everybody.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moliere/i-might-by-chance-write-something-just-as-shoddy-but-then-i-wouldn-t/) [Moliere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moliere/) > [When I get a chance to play golf or go on a boat with good people, take the boat out and put some lobsters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernie-mac/when-i-get-a-chance-to-play-golf-or-go-on-a-boat-with-good-people/) [Bernie Mac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernie-mac/) > [The happy medium is television. And if you find a good suitor, you can do it for years. With movies, you roll the dice.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-campbell/the-happy-medium-is-television-and-if-you-find-a-good-suitor-you-can/) [Bruce Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-campbell/) > [I get afraid of the dark if I'm in a great deal of dark, and I have to move around inside of that fear...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emil-ferris/i-get-afraid-of-the-dark-if-i-m-in-a-great-deal-of-dark-and-i-have-to/) [Emil Ferris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emil-ferris/) > [I have heard that if you pull a bent breath through the second hole of a harmonica tuned to the key of Georgia while…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/buddy-wakefield/i-have-heard-that-if-you-pull-a-bent-breath-through-the-second-hole/) [Buddy Wakefield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/buddy-wakefield/) > [There are times when we can feel destiny close around us like a fist around a doorknob. Sure, we can resist. But a knob…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/there-are-times-when-we-can-feel-destiny-close-around-us-like-a-fist/) [Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/) > [Pain held no terror for him. Pain was, if not friend, then family, something he had grown up with in his crèche, learning to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paolo-bacigalupi/pain-held-no-terror-for-him-pain-was-if-not-friend-then-family/) [Paolo Bacigalupi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paolo-bacigalupi/) > [Love changes people, for better or for worse. You could look at it as a chance for you to change. The best kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-changes-people-for-better-or-for-worse-you-could-look-at-it-as-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It's not who, it's when”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-taubas/it-s-not-who-it-s-when/) Alejandro Taubas > [Childhood is Last Chance Gulch for happiness. After that, you know too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/childhood-is-last-chance-gulch-for-happiness-after-that-you-know-too/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [I thought my first few jobs would just be off, off, off, off, off broadway. And by chance and how the world works, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tommy-dorfman/i-thought-my-first-few-jobs-would-just-be-off-off-off-off-off/) [Tommy Dorfman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tommy-dorfman/) > [If you’re worrying about the past, you’ve got a good chance of screwing up the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-a-tullman/if-you-re-worrying-about-the-past-you-ve-got-a-good-chance-of/) [Howard A. Tullman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-a-tullman/) > [To be successful, one must take chances.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willie-stargell/to-be-successful-one-must-take-chances/) [Willie Stargell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willie-stargell/) [Browse all 12,460 Chance quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chance/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To submit to chance is to reveal the self and its obsessions.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Charles Simic" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-self-and-its-obsessions/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Chance" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-self-and-its-obsessions/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68b/charles-simic-9906_chance_to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-sel_2449315.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68b/charles-simic-9906_chance_to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-sel_2449315.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/68b/charles-simic-9906_chance_to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-sel_2449315.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“To submit to chance is to reveal the self and its obsessions.” — Charles Simic", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Charles Simic", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-simic/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "To submit to chance is to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-self-and-its-obsessions/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-simic/to-submit-to-chance-is-to-reveal-the-self-and-its-obsessions/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```