Another man Quote by Chris Wooding
““Devil-boy Jack: "A higher power than ours directs us against the wych-kin. There is no turning back." Thaniel Fox: "There is no higher power, Devil-boy! And I am no-one's pawn, neither man nor wych nor whatever entity you speak of." Devil-boy Jack: "I do not speak of entities. I speak of the force that created the physics of the universe, the force that makes time flow forward and not allow everything to happen at once, the force that sets the patterns to which the planets turn. Its weapons are coincidence, unlikelihood, happenstance. It is there when a man stops suddenly to pick up a coin dropped by another man ten days before, and the woman who is to be his wife bumps into him, and five hundred years hence their offspring rules half the world. It is there when a chance comment causes a scientist to think, What if...? and ten years later a great plague is cured. It is so vast that what we call chaos is simply another part of its order, with a shape too big to see. It has no name, nor will it ever have, though man may hint darkly at fate and destiny. It is what it is... the pattern. We may choose our own paths, but the pattern is always ahead of us. It is a way. It is the way.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Chris Wooding, 2015
The dialogue suggests an unseen deterministic force shapes events, using coincidence as its tool, while characters wrestle with free will versus an inevitable pattern.
In simple terms: An unseen force guides events through coincidences, challenging free will.
Accept uncertainty and act purposefully within constraints.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- making decisions
- storytelling
- personal growth
- scientific research
- historical analysis
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- Do you see patterns in your life?
- How much control do you truly have?
The concept may oversimplify complex causality and ignore agency.