--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is absolutely no inevitability as…" description: "\"There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening.\" — Marshall McLuhan" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/marshall-mcluhan-641_contemplating_there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as_562491.png" --- # There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a… ![“There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening.” quote by Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/marshall-mcluhan-641_contemplating_there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as_562491.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/marshall-mcluhan-641_contemplating_there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as_562491.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/marshall-mcluhan-641_contemplating_there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as_562491.png) > “There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening.” [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Nothing is predetermined; by actively reflecting on events, we can influence outcomes. **In simple terms:** Contemplation enables change. Key Takeaway Reflect to shape reality. Themes agency reflection possibility Mood analytical hopeful Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - policy making - media consumption - personal decisions Key Concepts determinism media theory consciousness Questions to Reflect On - How does reflection translate to action? - What limits prevent change despite awareness? A Different Perspective Contemplation alone may not alter systemic forces. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Absolutely Inevitability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolutely-inevitability-4659640/) [Contemplate Happening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplate-happening-4251078/) [Contemplating](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplating/) [Inevitability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inevitability/) [Inevitability Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inevitability-long-4659641/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Peace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peace/) [Simple living](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/simple-living/) [Ubuntu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ubuntu/) [Willingness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/willingness/) [Willingness Contemplate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/willingness-contemplate-4659642/) ## Related quotes > [There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is the willingness to think.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-jones/there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as-long-as-there-is-the/) [Chuck Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-jones/) > [Nothing is inevitable if we are willing to contemplate what is happening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/nothing-is-inevitable-if-we-are-willing-to-contemplate-what-is/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [You know you've achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/you-know-you-ve-achieved-perfection-in-design-not-when-you-have/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [Mounting an expedition to actualize a Compassionate Commonwealth of all peoples...is the great spiritual challenge of our time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-keen/mounting-an-expedition-to-actualize-a-compassionate-commonwealth-of/) [Sam Keen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-keen/) > [It's odd how those who dismiss the peace movement as utopian, don't hesitate to proffer the most absurdly dreamy reasons for going to war:…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/it-s-odd-how-those-who-dismiss-the-peace-movement-as-utopian-don-t/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [Violence produces only something resembling justice, but it distances people from the possibility of living justly, without violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leo-tolstoy/violence-produces-only-something-resembling-justice-but-it-distances/) [Leo Tolstoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leo-tolstoy/) > [In 1989, thirteen nations comprising 1,695,000 people experienced nonviolent revolutions that succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations . . . If we add all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-wink/in-1989-thirteen-nations-comprising-1-695-000-people-experienced/) [Walter Wink](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-wink/) > [Africans believe in something that is difficult to render in English. We call it ubuntu, botho. It means the essence of being human. You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/desmond-tutu/africans-believe-in-something-that-is-difficult-to-render-in-english/) [Desmond Tutu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/desmond-tutu/) > [Peace is not merely the absence of war. Nor can it be reduced solely to the maintenance of a balance of power between enemies.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pope-paul-vi/peace-is-not-merely-the-absence-of-war-nor-can-it-be-reduced-solely/) [Pope Paul VI](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pope-paul-vi/) > [The United States of America is still run by its citizens. The government works for us. Rank imperialism and warmongering are not American traditions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-ivins/the-united-states-of-america-is-still-run-by-its-citizens-the/) [Molly Ivins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-ivins/) > [There is nothing more innately human than the tendency to transmute what has become customary into what has been divinely ordained.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-la-follette/there-is-nothing-more-innately-human-than-the-tendency-to-transmute/) [Suzanne La Follette](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-la-follette/) > [When we yield to discouragement it is usually because we give too much thought to the past and to the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/therese-of-lisieux/when-we-yield-to-discouragement-it-is-usually-because-we-give-too/) [Therese of Lisieux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/therese-of-lisieux/) > [Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It is the product of Faith, Strength, Energy, Will, Sympathy, Justice, Imagination, and the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothy-thompson/peace-has-to-be-created-in-order-to-be-maintained-it-is-the-product/) [Dorothy Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothy-thompson/) > [If one cannot state a matter clearly enough so that even an intelligent twelve-year-old can understand it, one should remain within the cloistered walls…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-mead/if-one-cannot-state-a-matter-clearly-enough-so-that-even-an/) [Margaret Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-mead/) > [All works of love are works of peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mother-teresa/all-works-of-love-are-works-of-peace/) [Mother Teresa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mother-teresa/) ## More by Marshall McLuhan > [Even mud gives the illusion of depth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/even-mud-gives-the-illusion-of-depth/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Language always preserves a play or figure/ground relation between experience, and perception and its replay in expression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/language-always-preserves-a-play-or-figure-ground-relation-between/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Electronic man has no physical body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/electronic-man-has-no-physical-body/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [I am curious to know what would happen if art were suddenly seen for what it is, namely, exact information of how to rearrange…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/i-am-curious-to-know-what-would-happen-if-art-were-suddenly-seen-for/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [With the arrival of electric technology, man has extended, or set outside himself, a live model of the central nervous system itself. To the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/with-the-arrival-of-electric-technology-man-has-extended-or-set/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [“The constant broadcast and reception of ghostly images via radio and television, according to this notion, had weakened the sense, particularly among youth, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/the-constant-broadcast-and-reception-of-ghostly-images-via-radio-and/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Every innovation scraps its immediate predecessor and retrieves still older figures – it causes floods of antiques or nostalgic art forms and stimulates the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/every-innovation-scraps-its-immediate-predecessor-and-retrieves-still/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [The family circle has widened. The worldpool of information fathered by the electric media--movies, Telstar, flight--far surpassesany possible influence mom and dad can now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/the-family-circle-has-widened-the-worldpool-of-information-fathered/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Like primitive, we now live in a global village of our own making, a simultaneous happening. It doesn't necessarily mean harmony and peace and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/like-primitive-we-now-live-in-a-global-village-of-our-own-making-a/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Professionalism is environmental. Amateurism is anti-environmental. Professionalism merges the individual into patterns of total environment. Amateurism seeks the development of the total awareness of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/professionalism-is-environmental-amateurism-is-anti-environmental/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [The visual power of the phonetic alphabet is the translate other languages into itself is part of its power to invade right hemisphere (oral)…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/the-visual-power-of-the-phonetic-alphabet-is-the-translate-other/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [New media may at first appear as mere codes of transmission for older achievement and established patterns of thought. But nobody could make the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/new-media-may-at-first-appear-as-mere-codes-of-transmission-for-older/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Youth instinctively understand the present environment - the electric drama. It lives mythically and in depth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/youth-instinctively-understand-the-present-environment-the-electric/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [Our motor car is our supreme form of privacy when we are away from home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/our-motor-car-is-our-supreme-form-of-privacy-when-we-are-away-from/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) > [The scientist rigorously defends his right to be ignorant of almost everything except his specialty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/the-scientist-rigorously-defends-his-right-to-be-ignorant-of-almost/) [Marshall McLuhan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) [Explore all 433 Marshall McLuhan quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/) ## More Contemplating quotes > [Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/believing-with-you-that-religion-is-a-matter-which-lies-solely/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [What's given, in fact, always depends on the person or thing it's given to. A minor incident in the street brings the cook to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernando-pessoa/what-s-given-in-fact-always-depends-on-the-person-or-thing-it-s-given/) [Fernando Pessoa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernando-pessoa/) > [The good author is he who contemplates without marked joy or excessive sorrow the adventures of his soul amongst criticisms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-conrad/the-good-author-is-he-who-contemplates-without-marked-joy-or/) [Joseph Conrad](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-conrad/) > [I have actually seen people contemplate their navels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-heilpern/i-have-actually-seen-people-contemplate-their-navels/) [John Heilpern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-heilpern/) > [It is very pleasant to scratch an itching ring-worm, but the sensation one gets afterwards is very painful and intolerable. In the same way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ramakrishna/it-is-very-pleasant-to-scratch-an-itching-ring-worm-but-the-sensation/) [Ramakrishna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ramakrishna/) > [He that contemplates hath a day without night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-herbert/he-that-contemplates-hath-a-day-without-night/) [George Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-herbert/) > [If we are to define science, ... it does not consist so much in knowing, nor even in "organized knowledge," as it does in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-sanders-peirce/if-we-are-to-define-science-it-does-not-consist-so-much-in-knowing/) [Charles Sanders Peirce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-sanders-peirce/) > [As we contemplate with reverence and awe how our Savior embraces us, comforts us, and heals us, let us commit to become His hands,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dieter-f-uchtdorf/as-we-contemplate-with-reverence-and-awe-how-our-savior-embraces-us/) [Dieter F. Uchtdorf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dieter-f-uchtdorf/) > [Contemplating the bowl, it is possible to see the interdependent elements which give rise to the bowl.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nhat-hanh/contemplating-the-bowl-it-is-possible-to-see-the-interdependent/) [Nhat Hanh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nhat-hanh/) > [The two hardest things to contemplate in life ... are failure and age; those are one and the same.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-two-hardest-things-to-contemplate-in-life-are-failure-and-age/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It always grieves me to contemplate the initiation of children into the ways of life when they are scarcely more than infants. It checks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-dickens/it-always-grieves-me-to-contemplate-the-initiation-of-children-into/) [Charles Dickens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-dickens/) > [When contemplating college liberals, you really regret once again that John Walker is not getting the death penalty.We need to execute people like John…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-coulter/when-contemplating-college-liberals-you-really-regret-once-again-that/) [Ann Coulter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-coulter/) > [“That which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/that-which-sings-and-contemplates-in-you-is-still-dwelling-within-the/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [contemplating the misfortunes of others does not lighten one's own trouble but instead adds to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mignon-g-eberhart/contemplating-the-misfortunes-of-others-does-not-lighten-one-s-own/) [Mignon G. Eberhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mignon-g-eberhart/) > [Linda McCartney sausages were my favorite. Theyre much better than eating real sausages and you dont have to contemplate half way through exactly whats…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-cowell/linda-mccartney-sausages-were-my-favorite-theyre-much-better-than/) [Simon Cowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-cowell/) [Browse all 762 Contemplating quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contemplating/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Marshall McLuhan" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as-long-as-there-is-a/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Contemplating" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as-long-as-there-is-a/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/marshall-mcluhan-641_contemplating_there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as_562491.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/marshall-mcluhan-641_contemplating_there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as_562491.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/849/marshall-mcluhan-641_contemplating_there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as_562491.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening.” — Marshall McLuhan", "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": "Marshall McLuhan", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marshall-mcluhan/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is absolutely no inevitability as...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as-long-as-there-is-a/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marshall-mcluhan/there-is-absolutely-no-inevitability-as-long-as-there-is-a/#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 } } ] } ```