--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am here because of a certain man. I…" description: "\"“I am here because of a certain man. I came to retrace his steps. Perhaps to see if there were not some alternate course. What was here to be found was..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebb/cormac-mccarthy-181_different-world_i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-cam_2746778.jpg" --- # I am here because of a certain man. I came to retrace his… ![“I am here because of a certain man. I came to retrace his steps. Perhaps to see if there were not some alternate course. What was here to be found was not a thing. Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their…” quote by Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebb/cormac-mccarthy-181_different-world_i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-cam_2746778.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebb/cormac-mccarthy-181_different-world_i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-cam_2746778.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebb/cormac-mccarthy-181_different-world_i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-cam_2746778.jpg) > ““I am here because of a certain man. I came to retrace his steps. Perhaps to see if there were not some alternate course. What was here to be found was not a thing. Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place. And that is what was to be found here. The corrido. That tale. And like all corridos it ultimately told one story only, for there is only one to tell. The cats shifted and stirred, the fire creaked in the stove. Outside in the abandoned village the profoundest silence. What is the story? the boy said. In the town of Caborca on the Altar River there was a man who lived there who was an old man. He was born in Caborca and in Caborca he died. Yet he lived once in this town, in Huisiachepic. What does Caborca know of Huisiachepic, Huisiachepic of Caborca? They are different worlds, you must agree. Yet even so there is but one world and everything that is imaginable is necessary to it. For this world also which seems to us a thing of stone and flower and blood is not a thing at all but a tale. And all in it is a tale and each tale the sum of all lesser tales and yet they are the selfsame tale and contain as well all else within them. So everything is necessary. Every least thing. This is a hard lesson. Nothing can be dispensed with. Nothing despised. Because the seems are hid from us, you see. The joinery. The way in which the world is made. We have no way to tell what might stand and what might fall. And those seams that are hid from us are of course in the tale itself and the tale had no abode or place of being except in the telling only and there it lives and makes its home and therefore we can never be done with the telling. Of the telling there is no end. And whether in Caborca or Huisiachepic or in whatever other place by whatever other name or by no name at all I say again all tales are one. Rightly heard all tales are one.”” [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Objects gain meaning only through the stories we tell about them; without narrative they are mere shapes lacking identity. **In simple terms:** Stories give purpose to things. Key Takeaway Recognize the power of narrative. Themes meaning storytelling existence interconnectedness Mood contemplative poetic Type philosophical literary When to use this quote - personal reflection - creative writing - teaching - cultural analysis Key Concepts philosophy metaphysics literature Questions to Reflect On - How does narrative shape your perception of reality? - Can a story ever fully capture an object's essence? A Different Perspective Stories may oversimplify complex realities. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Corrido Tale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/corrido-tale-3068458/) [Different world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different-world/) [Different worlds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different-worlds/) [Old man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/old-man/) [Place Telling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/place-telling-2057866/) [Stories Meaning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stories-meaning-532469/) [Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/story/) [Told Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/told-story/) ## Related quotes > [Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/things-separate-from-their-stories-have-no-meaning-they-are-only-2/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/things-separate-from-their-stories-have-no-meaning-they-are-only/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Things separate from their stories have no meaning.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/things-separate-from-their-stories-have-no-meaning/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“They went through the last of the cars and then walked up the track to the locomotive and climbed up to the catwalk. Rust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-went-through-the-last-of-the-cars-and-then-walked-up-the-track/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“He has given me a time and a place. He’s telling me to meet him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/he-has-given-me-a-time-and-a-place-he-s-telling-me-to-meet-him/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [I learned early on that there are all sorts of stories I have no place telling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-hedges/i-learned-early-on-that-there-are-all-sorts-of-stories-i-have-no/) [Peter Hedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-hedges/) > [“As long as one refuses to know one's place, there's no telling what one can do in the world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/candace-bushnell/as-long-as-one-refuses-to-know-one-s-place-there-s-no-telling-what/) [Candace Bushnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/candace-bushnell/) > [“Funny though… and many of you know this… given a bit of slack, I’ll wander all over the place when telling a story.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-hocking/funny-though-and-many-of-you-know-this-given-a-bit-of-slack-i-ll/) [Bob Hocking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-hocking/) > [“All love songs, no matter how eloquent or crude, ornamented or plain, in whatever language they are sung, say essentially the same thing. All…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lee-siegel/all-love-songs-no-matter-how-eloquent-or-crude-ornamented-or-plain-in/) [Lee Siegel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lee-siegel/) > [There are no stories without meaning. And I am one of those men who can find it even when others fail to see it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/umberto-eco/there-are-no-stories-without-meaning-and-i-am-one-of-those-men-who/) [Umberto Eco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/umberto-eco/) > [People who actually tell stories, meaning people who write novels and make feature films, don't see themselves as storytellers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefan-sagmeister/people-who-actually-tell-stories-meaning-people-who-write-novels-and/) [Stefan Sagmeister](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefan-sagmeister/) > [It's a different world for those of us who are doing this for a living. Certainly a lot different than my dad had to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-buck/it-s-a-different-world-for-those-of-us-who-are-doing-this-for-a/) [Joe Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-buck/) > [Two entirely different people. They were from two different worlds. Somehow, somewhere.. They crated their own!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanae-el-kherchi/two-entirely-different-people-they-were-from-two-different-worlds/) [Hanae El Kherchi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanae-el-kherchi/) > [I think dressing up or down should be a creative experience. Exciting. Fun. For me the key to personal style lies in accessories. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-apfel/i-think-dressing-up-or-down-should-be-a-creative-experience-exciting/) [Iris Apfel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-apfel/) > [Freedom in every sense but primarily political sense, a rise in repression that stems from a repression of sexuality. It's AIDS, it's herpes, it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-nicholson/freedom-in-every-sense-but-primarily-political-sense-a-rise-in/) [Jack Nicholson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-nicholson/) ## More by Cormac McCarthy > [The cooler days have brought a wistful mood upon him. The smell of coalsmoke in the air at night. Old times, dead years. For…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-cooler-days-have-brought-a-wistful-mood-upon-him-the-smell-of/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“The events of the world can have no separate life from the world. And yet the world itself can have no temporal view of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/the-events-of-the-world-can-have-no-separate-life-from-the-world-and/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“I had two dreams about him after he died. I dont remember the first one all that well but it was about meetin him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/i-had-two-dreams-about-him-after-he-died-i-dont-remember-the-first/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“You think people was meaner then than they are now? the deputy said. The old man was looking out at the flooded town. No,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/you-think-people-was-meaner-then-than-they-are-now-the-deputy-said/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“They set forth in a crimson dawn where sky and earth closed in a razorous plane. Out there dark little archipelagos of cloud and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-set-forth-in-a-crimson-dawn-where-sky-and-earth-closed-in-a/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Nothing. Where all was burnt to ash before them no fires were to be had and the nights were long and dark and cold…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/nothing-where-all-was-burnt-to-ash-before-them-no-fires-were-to-be/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [He said that whether a man's life was writ in a book someplace or whether it took its form day by day was one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/he-said-that-whether-a-man-s-life-was-writ-in-a-book-someplace-or/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“He lives in a room above a courtyard behind a tavern and he comes down at night like some fairybook beast to fight with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/he-lives-in-a-room-above-a-courtyard-behind-a-tavern-and-he-comes/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Ultimo hombre. Last man standing, must've been one. Where'd he go?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/ultimo-hombre-last-man-standing-must-ve-been-one-where-d-he-go/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“To seek out the upright. No fall but preceded by a declination. He took great marching steps into the nothingness, counting them against his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/to-seek-out-the-upright-no-fall-but-preceded-by-a-declination-he-took/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“They went through the last of the cars and then walked up the track to the locomotive and climbed up to the catwalk. Rust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-went-through-the-last-of-the-cars-and-then-walked-up-the-track/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“Night fell upon them dark and starblown and the wagon grew swollen near mute with dew. On their chairs in such black immobility these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/night-fell-upon-them-dark-and-starblown-and-the-wagon-grew-swollen/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“When I was in school I studied biology. I learned that in making their experiments scientists will take some group - bacteria, mice, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/when-i-was-in-school-i-studied-biology-i-learned-that-in-making-their/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [ “We none of us knew him to speak \[Dutch\]. Asked him where he'd learned it you know what he said? What did he say.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/we-none-of-us-knew-him-to-speak-dutch-asked-him-where-he-d-learned-it/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“You know that the things you put it your head stay there, right?' 'Yeah. But you remember some things, don't you?' 'Yeah. You remember…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/you-know-that-the-things-you-put-it-your-head-stay-there-right-yeah/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) [Explore all 927 Cormac McCarthy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) ## More Different world quotes > [Freedom in every sense but primarily political sense, a rise in repression that stems from a repression of sexuality. It's AIDS, it's herpes, it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-nicholson/freedom-in-every-sense-but-primarily-political-sense-a-rise-in/) [Jack Nicholson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-nicholson/) > [“At least when I'm sleeping I can dream myself back to Alex, can dream myself into a different world.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/at-least-when-i-m-sleeping-i-can-dream-myself-back-to-alex-can-dream/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [I think dressing up or down should be a creative experience. Exciting. Fun. For me the key to personal style lies in accessories. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-apfel/i-think-dressing-up-or-down-should-be-a-creative-experience-exciting/) [Iris Apfel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-apfel/) > [“They went through the last of the cars and then walked up the track to the locomotive and climbed up to the catwalk. Rust…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/they-went-through-the-last-of-the-cars-and-then-walked-up-the-track/) [Cormac McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/) > [“What advice would you give to a smart, driven college student about to enter the “real world”? What advice should they ignore? Nobody really…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-ferriss/what-advice-would-you-give-to-a-smart-driven-college-student-about-to/) [Timothy Ferriss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-ferriss/) > [Now, with social media, it's a whole different world, which is good and bad. Back when I was in college, when there was no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christian-siriano/now-with-social-media-it-s-a-whole-different-world-which-is-good-and/) [Christian Siriano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christian-siriano/) > [Two entirely different people. They were from two different worlds. Somehow, somewhere.. They crated their own!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanae-el-kherchi/two-entirely-different-people-they-were-from-two-different-worlds/) [Hanae El Kherchi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanae-el-kherchi/) > [It's a different world for those of us who are doing this for a living. Certainly a lot different than my dad had to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-buck/it-s-a-different-world-for-those-of-us-who-are-doing-this-for-a/) [Joe Buck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-buck/) > [We have to know that the bad guys are not different from us in the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stellan-skarsgard/we-have-to-know-that-the-bad-guys-are-not-different-from-us-in-the/) [Stellan Skarsgard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stellan-skarsgard/) > [It's hard for two people to love each other when they live in two different worlds. But when these two worlds collide and become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/it-s-hard-for-two-people-to-love-each-other-when-they-live-in-two/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When I talk about rock n' roll, to me, that goes back to the beginning of the 1950s. Blue suede shoes and sideburns, man.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bobby-keys/when-i-talk-about-rock-n-roll-to-me-that-goes-back-to-the-beginning/) [Bobby Keys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bobby-keys/) > [Rene Char wrote somewhere, apropos poetry, that there are those who create and those who discover; they are too completely different worlds. Photograph also…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-cartier-bresson/rene-char-wrote-somewhere-apropos-poetry-that-there-are-those-who/) [Henri Cartier-Bresson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-cartier-bresson/) > [“We don't have a lot of choice about the world we live in. But we do have choices about our world-view. ... We read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-wade-johnson/we-don-t-have-a-lot-of-choice-about-the-world-we-live-in-but-we-do/) [Kevin Wade Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-wade-johnson/) > [We are too quickly losing important landscapes in this country to development - and I worry that if we do not act to protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-bacon/we-are-too-quickly-losing-important-landscapes-in-this-country-to/) [Louis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-bacon/) > [If every seed turned into a plant, we'd be living in a very different world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hope-jahren/if-every-seed-turned-into-a-plant-we-d-be-living-in-a-very-different/) [Hope Jahren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hope-jahren/) [Browse all 631 Different world quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different-world/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I am here because of a certain man. I came to retrace his steps. Perhaps to see if there were not some alternate course. What was here to be found was not a thing. Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place. And that is what was to be found here. The corrido. That tale. And like all corridos it ultimately told one story only, for there is only one to tell. The cats shifted and stirred, the fire creaked in the stove. Outside in the abandoned village the profoundest silence. What is the story? the boy said. In the town of Caborca on the Altar River there was a man who lived there who was an old man. He was born in Caborca and in Caborca he died. Yet he lived once in this town, in Huisiachepic. What does Caborca know of Huisiachepic, Huisiachepic of Caborca? They are different worlds, you must agree. Yet even so there is but one world and everything that is imaginable is necessary to it. For this world also which seems to us a thing of stone and flower and blood is not a thing at all but a tale. And all in it is a tale and each tale the sum of all lesser tales and yet they are the selfsame tale and contain as well all else within them. So everything is necessary. Every least thing. This is a hard lesson. Nothing can be dispensed with. Nothing despised. Because the seems are hid from us, you see. The joinery. The way in which the world is made. We have no way to tell what might stand and what might fall. And those seams that are hid from us are of course in the tale itself and the tale had no abode or place of being except in the telling only and there it lives and makes its home and therefore we can never be done with the telling. Of the telling there is no end. And whether in Caborca or Huisiachepic or in whatever other place by whatever other name or by no name at all I say again all tales are one. Rightly heard all tales are one.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Cormac McCarthy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-came-to-retrace-his-steps/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Different world" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-came-to-retrace-his-steps/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebb/cormac-mccarthy-181_different-world_i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-cam_2746778.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebb/cormac-mccarthy-181_different-world_i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-cam_2746778.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ebb/cormac-mccarthy-181_different-world_i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-cam_2746778.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I am here because of a certain man. I came to retrace his steps. Perhaps to see if there were not some…” — Cormac McCarthy", "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": "Cormac McCarthy", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cormac-mccarthy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“I am here because of a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-came-to-retrace-his-steps/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cormac-mccarthy/i-am-here-because-of-a-certain-man-i-came-to-retrace-his-steps/#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 } } ] } ```