--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: ... things just happen. It was a pathetic…" description: "\"“... things just happen. It was a pathetic logic, but it was, at its core, true. Things happen. We had not wanted them to happen. They had arisen out o..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96c/colum-mccann-902_things-happen_things-just-happen-it-was-a-pathetic-log_214105.png" --- # ... things just happen. It was a pathetic logic, but it… ![“... things just happen. It was a pathetic logic, but it was, at its core, true. Things happen. We had not wanted them to happen. They had arisen out of the ashes of chance.” quote by Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96c/colum-mccann-902_things-happen_things-just-happen-it-was-a-pathetic-log_214105.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96c/colum-mccann-902_things-happen_things-just-happen-it-was-a-pathetic-log_214105.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/96c/colum-mccann-902_things-happen_things-just-happen-it-was-a-pathetic-log_214105.png) > ““... things just happen. It was a pathetic logic, but it was, at its core, true. Things happen. We had not wanted them to happen. They had arisen out of the ashes of chance.”” [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Events occur by chance, beyond our control, shaping truth. **In simple terms:** Chance drives events, revealing truth. Key Takeaway Accept randomness in life’s narrative. Themes fate chance truth Mood reflective somber Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - war - personal loss - historical events Key Concepts philosophy determinism Questions to Reflect On - How do you find meaning in random events? - Can we influence chance? A Different Perspective Randomness can undermine agency. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Things happen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-happen/) ## Related quotes > [I spent a lot of time waiting for things to happen to me, which is more or less as pathetic as it sounds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sloane-crosley/i-spent-a-lot-of-time-waiting-for-things-to-happen-to-me-which-is/) [Sloane Crosley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sloane-crosley/) > [Things don't just happen; things happen just.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-rohn/things-don-t-just-happen-things-happen-just/) [Jim Rohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-rohn/) > [“sometimes things don’t happen for a reason, sometimes things just happen. It”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marian-keyes/sometimes-things-don-t-happen-for-a-reason-sometimes-things-just/) [Marian Keyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marian-keyes/) > [Things just happen. What the hell.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/things-just-happen-what-the-hell/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) > [Some people never change, you just happen to be one of them...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/some-people-never-change-you-just-happen-to-be-one-of-them/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Sometimes things just happen. Sometimes surfing this bank from Snapper to Kirra, sometimes you don't even think what you're doing but you do it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mick-fanning/sometimes-things-just-happen-sometimes-surfing-this-bank-from-snapper/) [Mick Fanning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mick-fanning/) > [Things don't just happen. You made the choices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/criminal-minds/things-don-t-just-happen-you-made-the-choices/) [Criminal Minds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/criminal-minds/) > [“This night it would happen, had to happen. Just as it had happened before. Just as it would happen again, and again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-lindsay/this-night-it-would-happen-had-to-happen-just-as-it-had-happened/) [Jeff Lindsay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-lindsay/) > [“Things don't just happen, things are made to happen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/felix-timothy/things-don-t-just-happen-things-are-made-to-happen/) Felix Timothy > [Records just happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shahid-afridi/records-just-happen/) [Shahid Afridi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shahid-afridi/) > [It was just one of those things," I said, "You know, that just happen. You don't think or plan. You just do it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-dessen/it-was-just-one-of-those-things-i-said-you-know-that-just-happen-you/) [Sarah Dessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-dessen/) > [No one thinks about love,it just happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/newlove/no-one-thinks-about-love-it-just-happen/) [Newlove](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/newlove/) > [I can't legislate a song into being; it just will not happen for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-crosby/i-can-t-legislate-a-song-into-being-it-just-will-not-happen-for-me/) [David Crosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-crosby/) > [“Miracles don't just happen on their own you know, you got to make them happen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joem-s-aguilar/miracles-don-t-just-happen-on-their-own-you-know-you-got-to-make-them/) Joem S. Aguilar > [My life is a series of things that just happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-russell/my-life-is-a-series-of-things-that-just-happen/) [Harold Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-russell/) ## More by Colum McCann > [Give life long enough and it will solve all your problems, including the one of being alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/give-life-long-enough-and-it-will-solve-all-your-problems-including/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“There is something that happens to the mind in moments of terror. Perhaps we figure it's the last we'll ever have and we record…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/there-is-something-that-happens-to-the-mind-in-moments-of-terror/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“The short sharp shock of three thousand mother two hundred mothers. The ones who picked through the supermarket debris for pieces of their dead…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/the-short-sharp-shock-of-three-thousand-mother-two-hundred-mothers/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [I'm not so sure that I can teach people how to, you know, write dialogue or create plot or anything like that. But if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/i-m-not-so-sure-that-i-can-teach-people-how-to-you-know-write/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“Once we had filled each other with desire, not remembrance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/once-we-had-filled-each-other-with-desire-not-remembrance/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“How long ago it was and how strange, but all dead friends come to life again sometimes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/how-long-ago-it-was-and-how-strange-but-all-dead-friends-come-to-life/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“She would want, instead, to recall him in the air, between layers of cloud. To give him back that ancient dignity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/she-would-want-instead-to-recall-him-in-the-air-between-layers-of/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [Novels are more difficult simply because they are longer and require more juggling, but short stories are closer to perfection, if you can get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/novels-are-more-difficult-simply-because-they-are-longer-and-require/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [It was a silence that heard itself, awful and beautiful.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/it-was-a-silence-that-heard-itself-awful-and-beautiful/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [I think one of the biggest political failures, and the biggest social failures, over the past few years has been the failure of empathy;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/i-think-one-of-the-biggest-political-failures-and-the-biggest-social/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“Bits of it floating in the air, he said. 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The real is imagined, in the sense that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/i-m-of-the-opinion-that-the-real-is-imagined-and-the-imagined-is/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) > [“She had that emigrant’s sadness—she would never go back to her old country—it was gone in more senses than one—but she was forever gazing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colum-mccann/she-had-that-emigrant-s-sadness-she-would-never-go-back-to-her-old/) [Colum McCann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) [Explore all 333 Colum McCann quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colum-mccann/) ## More Things happen quotes > [The amazing thing is that we live our lives with the hope that things will go right, that things will happen. And all along…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurel-nakadate/the-amazing-thing-is-that-we-live-our-lives-with-the-hope-that-things/) [Laurel Nakadate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurel-nakadate/) > [I think the most miraculous thing is learning. I get out of the way and let the students learn. Then you get to watch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/i-think-the-most-miraculous-thing-is-learning-i-get-out-of-the-way/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) > [One thing I always tell players is that there are three bad things: Nothing good happens after midnight, nothing good happens when you're around…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-saban/one-thing-i-always-tell-players-is-that-there-are-three-bad-things/) [Nick Saban](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-saban/) > [“Nothing happens on its own, you have to make things happen. 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Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-l-brooks/) > [IVE LEARNED THE BEST WAY FOR YOU TO HAVE GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO YOU , ALL THE TIME, IS TO DO GOOD THINGS FOR…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonard-paul-rose/ive-learned-the-best-way-for-you-to-have-good-things-happen-to-you/) [LEONARD PAUL ROSE](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonard-paul-rose/) > [When you're true to who you are, amazing things happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-norville/when-you-re-true-to-who-you-are-amazing-things-happen/) [Deborah Norville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-norville/) > [Things happen on the field. It has happened between me and other players, but we always left it out there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautam-gambhir/things-happen-on-the-field-it-has-happened-between-me-and-other/) [Gautam Gambhir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautam-gambhir/) > [Things happen too quickly, crisis follows crisis, the soil of our minds is perpetually disturbed. Each of us, to relieve his feelings, broadcasts his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jan-struther/things-happen-too-quickly-crisis-follows-crisis-the-soil-of-our-minds/) [Jan Struther](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jan-struther/) > [Whether it is a small thing or big one, step-by-step you can make things happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alex-zanardi/whether-it-is-a-small-thing-or-big-one-step-by-step-you-can-make/) [Alex Zanardi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alex-zanardi/) > [But if I've heard this saying once, I've heard it a thousand times- everything happens for a reason. And possibly it does. I just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-lawler/but-if-i-ve-heard-this-saying-once-i-ve-heard-it-a-thousand-times/) [Jerry Lawler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-lawler/) > [“The most terrible and beautiful and interesting things happen in life. For some of you, those things have already happened. Whatever happens to you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cheryl-strayed/the-most-terrible-and-beautiful-and-interesting-things-happen-in-life/) [Cheryl Strayed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cheryl-strayed/) > [I have this belief about things happening organically. I believe life has this organic flow in a way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naoko-mori/i-have-this-belief-about-things-happening-organically-i-believe-life/) Naoko Mori > [I wasn't going to let things happen to me any more. I was going to make them happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/glenda-millard/i-wasn-t-going-to-let-things-happen-to-me-any-more-i-was-going-to/) [Glenda Millard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/glenda-millard/) [Browse all 3,517 Things happen quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/things-happen/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“... things just happen. It was a pathetic logic, but it was, at its core, true. Things happen. 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