Blank page Quote by David Mitchell
““Human life, Borges said, is a cascade of possible directions, and we take only one, or we perceive that we take only one—which is how novels are written, too. You start with a blank page, and the first word opens up possibilities for the second word. If your first word is Call, those second two or three could be a doctor or it could be me Ishmael. It could be Call girls on Saturday nights generally cost more than . . . The second sentence opens up a multitude of third sentences, and on we go through that denseness of choices taken and choices not taken, swinging our machetes.””
About This Quote
Source Book: Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, 2004
Life offers many possible paths; choosing one shapes our narrative, similar to how a first word determines a story’s direction.
In simple terms: Every choice opens new possibilities and closes others.
Key Takeaway
Embrace choices and their consequences.
Themes
choice
possibility
storytelling
Mood
contemplative
inspired
Type
philosophical
literary
When to use this quote
- career planning
- writing
- entrepreneurship
- personal relationships
Key Concepts
narrative
decision making
creative process
Questions to Reflect On
- What does your “first word” represent?
- How do you handle unexpected outcomes?
A Different Perspective
It may suggest fatalism, ignoring chance and external constraints.
![“This book first arose out of a passage in [Jorge Luis] Borges, out of the laughter that shattered, as I read the passage, all the familiar landmarks of my thought—our thought that bears the stamp of our age and our geography—breaking up all the ordered surfaces and all the planes with which we are…” quote by Michel Foucault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9a1/michel-foucault-1134_animals_this-book-first-arose-out-of-a-passage-i_571093.jpg)
