--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Having tried to give pattern to the chaos…" description: "\"Having tried to give pattern to the chaos which lives within the pattern of your certainties, I must come out, I must emerge.\" — Ralph Ellison" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfd/ralph-ellison-2676_certainty_having-tried-to-give-pattern-to-the-chao_2795493.png" --- # Having tried to give pattern to the chaos which lives… ![“Having tried to give pattern to the chaos which lives within the pattern of your certainties, I must come out, I must emerge.” quote by Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfd/ralph-ellison-2676_certainty_having-tried-to-give-pattern-to-the-chao_2795493.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfd/ralph-ellison-2676_certainty_having-tried-to-give-pattern-to-the-chao_2795493.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cfd/ralph-ellison-2676_certainty_having-tried-to-give-pattern-to-the-chao_2795493.png) > “Having tried to give pattern to the chaos which lives within the pattern of your certainties, I must come out, I must emerge.” [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The narrator seeks order amid inner chaos, confronting the limits of his own certainties. **In simple terms:** Trying to control inner chaos. Key Takeaway Embrace uncertainty and evolve. Themes identity chaos self‑discovery Mood reflective introspective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal growth - creative work - therapy - spiritual practice Key Concepts existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How do you recognize patterns in your inner turmoil? - What does “emerge” mean for you? A Different Perspective Order cannot be forced; resistance may arise. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Certainty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/certainty/) [Chaos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chaos/) [Come Emerge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/come-emerge-3411161/) [Emerge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emerge/) [Giving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/giving/) [Pattern Chaos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pattern-chaos-3411160/) [Patterns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/patterns/) [Tried Pattern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tried-pattern-3411162/) ## Related quotes > [There's no one on the road that I tried to pattern myself after. There's no one in history that I tried to pattern myself…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-murphy/there-s-no-one-on-the-road-that-i-tried-to-pattern-myself-after-there/) [Charlie Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-murphy/) > [What do we know about autism in 2013? 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And now we start on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/everywhere-i-ve-turned-somebody-has-wanted-to-sacrifice-me-for-my-own/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [Power, for the writer…lies in his ability to reveal if only a little bit more about the complexity of humanity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/power-for-the-writer-lies-in-his-ability-to-reveal-if-only-a-little/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [...and yet I am what they think I am.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/and-yet-i-am-what-they-think-i-am/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [And while the ice was melting to form a flood in which I threatened to drown I awoke one afternoon to find that my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/and-while-the-ice-was-melting-to-form-a-flood-in-which-i-threatened/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“Do they come to bury the others or to be entombed to give life or to receive it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/do-they-come-to-bury-the-others-or-to-be-entombed-to-give-life-or-to/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“They could laugh at him but they couldn't ignore him”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/they-could-laugh-at-him-but-they-couldn-t-ignore-him/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [Commercial rock 'n' roll music is a brutalization of the stream of contemporary Negro church music an obscene looting of a cultural expression.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/commercial-rock-n-roll-music-is-a-brutalization-of-the-stream-of/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“All dreamers and sleepwalkers must pay the price, and even the invisible victim is responsible for the fate of all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/all-dreamers-and-sleepwalkers-must-pay-the-price-and-even-the/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“Those two spots are among the darkest of our whole civilization--pardon me, our whole culture (an important distinction, I've heard)--which might sound like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/those-two-spots-are-among-the-darkest-of-our-whole-civilization/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [“Above the decorous walking around me, sounds of footsteps leaving the verandas of far-flung buildings and moving toward the walks and over the walks…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/above-the-decorous-walking-around-me-sounds-of-footsteps-leaving-the/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [And my problem was that I always tried to go in everyone's way but my own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-ellison/and-my-problem-was-that-i-always-tried-to-go-in-everyone-s-way-but-my/) [Ralph Ellison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-ellison/) > [I am one of the most irresponsible beings that ever lived. 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