--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We can depend on the world being a…" description: "\"We can depend on the world being a perpetual surprise in perpetual motion.\" — Stephen Nachmanovitch" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21c/stephen-nachmanovitch-10483_perpetual_we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpe_2062872.png" --- # We can depend on the world being a perpetual surprise in… ![“We can depend on the world being a perpetual surprise in perpetual motion.” quote by Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21c/stephen-nachmanovitch-10483_perpetual_we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpe_2062872.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21c/stephen-nachmanovitch-10483_perpetual_we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpe_2062872.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21c/stephen-nachmanovitch-10483_perpetual_we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpe_2062872.png) > “We can depend on the world being a perpetual surprise in perpetual motion.” [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Life is constantly surprising and always moving, urging us to stay adaptable. **In simple terms:** Life is always surprising. Key Takeaway Stay adaptable. Themes change surprise motion Mood reflective inquisitive Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - travel - career shifts - personal growth Key Concepts impermanence creativity Questions to Reflect On - How do you handle constant change? - What surprises inspire you? A Different Perspective Surprises can be unsettling. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Perpetual motion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perpetual-motion/) [Surprise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/surprise/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [That I exist is a perpetual surprise which is life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabindranath-tagore/that-i-exist-is-a-perpetual-surprise-which-is-life/) [Rabindranath Tagore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabindranath-tagore/) > [The world is but a perpetual see-saw.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-de-montaigne/the-world-is-but-a-perpetual-see-saw/) [Michel de Montaigne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michel-de-montaigne/) > [The world is a perpetual caricature of itself; at every moment it is the mockery and the contradiction of what it is pretending to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-world-is-a-perpetual-caricature-of-itself-at-every-moment-it-is/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [In our ludicrous efforts to 'change' and be perfect, we try to fashion a perfect world for ourselves. We start to imagine that we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-white/in-our-ludicrous-efforts-to-change-and-be-perfect-we-try-to-fashion-a/) [Robert White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-white/) > [I were better to be eaten to death with a rust than to be scoured to nothing with perpetual motion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/i-were-better-to-be-eaten-to-death-with-a-rust-than-to-be-scoured-to/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Everything is in constant flux, from state to state, from good to bad and back again…, only in transmutation, perpetual motion, lies truth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asger-jorn/everything-is-in-constant-flux-from-state-to-state-from-good-to-bad/) [Asger Jorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asger-jorn/) > [O speculators about perpetual motion, how many vain chimeras have you created in the like quest? Go and take your place with the seekers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/o-speculators-about-perpetual-motion-how-many-vain-chimeras-have-you/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [When I'm building my dome in my chapel, and I had a vision - I've worked on perpetual motion and I haven't never give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-finster/when-i-m-building-my-dome-in-my-chapel-and-i-had-a-vision-i-ve-worked/) [Howard Finster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-finster/) > [Neither love nor fire can subsist without perpetual motion; both cease to live so soon as they cease to hope, or to fear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/neither-love-nor-fire-can-subsist-without-perpetual-motion-both-cease/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [In whatever system where the weight attached to the wheel should be the cause of motion of the wheel, without any doubt the center…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-da-vinci/in-whatever-system-where-the-weight-attached-to-the-wheel-should-be/) [Leonardo da Vinci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-da-vinci/) > [Marketing's job is never done. It's about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/beth-comstock/marketing-s-job-is-never-done-it-s-about-perpetual-motion-we-must/) [Beth Comstock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/beth-comstock/) > [This game wears on you. It tears you down. It's perpetual motion for some people who've achieved a level of independence, like Madonna and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lupe-fiasco/this-game-wears-on-you-it-tears-you-down-it-s-perpetual-motion-for/) [Lupe Fiasco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lupe-fiasco/) > [Does it seem to you impossible to imagine anything more inextricable than the social contract, when you think of the frightful number of relations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pierre-joseph-proudhon/does-it-seem-to-you-impossible-to-imagine-anything-more-inextricable/) [Pierre-Joseph Proudhon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pierre-joseph-proudhon/) > [“Marketing is a never-ending story. It’s about perpetual motion where innovation plays the lead role.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacey-kehoe/marketing-is-a-never-ending-story-it-s-about-perpetual-motion-where/) [Stacey Kehoe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacey-kehoe/) > [Painting' and 'religious experience' are the same thing. It is a question of the perpetual motion of a right idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-nicholson/painting-and-religious-experience-are-the-same-thing-it-is-a-question/) [Ben Nicholson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-nicholson/) ## More by Stephen Nachmanovitch > [Improvisation is intuition in action, a way to discover the muse and learn to respond to her call.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/improvisation-is-intuition-in-action-a-way-to-discover-the-muse-and/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Writing, playing, composing, painting, reading, listening, looking-all require that we submit to being swept away by Eros, to a transformation of self of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/writing-playing-composing-painting-reading-listening-looking-all/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Play cannot be defined, because in play all definitions slither, dance, combine, break apart, and recombine.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/play-cannot-be-defined-because-in-play-all-definitions-slither-dance/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Play enables us to rearrange our capacities and our very identity so that they can be used in unforeseen ways](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/play-enables-us-to-rearrange-our-capacities-and-our-very-identity-so/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [If we are transparent, with nothing to hide, the gap between language and being disappears. Then the Muse can speak.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/if-we-are-transparent-with-nothing-to-hide-the-gap-between-language/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Many musicians are fabulously skilled at playing the black dots on the printed page, but mystified by how the dots got there in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/many-musicians-are-fabulously-skilled-at-playing-the-black-dots-on/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [In the art of teaching, we recognize that ideas and insights need to cook over a period of time. Sometimes the student who is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/in-the-art-of-teaching-we-recognize-that-ideas-and-insights-need-to/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Every moment of life is unique-a kiss, a sunset, a dance, a joke. None will ever recur in quite the same way. Each happens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/every-moment-of-life-is-unique-a-kiss-a-sunset-a-dance-a-joke-none/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Every attempt we make is imperfect; yet each one of those imperfect attempts is an occasion for a delight unlike anything else on earth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/every-attempt-we-make-is-imperfect-yet-each-one-of-those-imperfect/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [An improviser does not operate from a formless vacuum, but from three billion years of organic evolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/an-improviser-does-not-operate-from-a-formless-vacuum-but-from-three/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Creative work is play. It is free speculation using materials of ones chosen form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/creative-work-is-play-it-is-free-speculation-using-materials-of-ones/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Brahms once remarked that the mark of an artist is how much he throws away. Nature, the great creator, is always throwing things away.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/brahms-once-remarked-that-the-mark-of-an-artist-is-how-much-he-throws/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [If the art is created with the whole person, then the work will come out whole. Education must teach, reach, and vibrate the whole…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/if-the-art-is-created-with-the-whole-person-then-the-work-will-come/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Play, creativity, art, spontaneity, all these experiences are their own rewards and are blocked when we perform for reward or punishment, profit or loss.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/play-creativity-art-spontaneity-all-these-experiences-are-their-own/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) > [Technique itself springs from play, because we can acquire technique only by the practice of practice, by persistently experimenting and playing with our tools…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/technique-itself-springs-from-play-because-we-can-acquire-technique/) [Stephen Nachmanovitch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) [Explore all 64 Stephen Nachmanovitch quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/) ## More Perpetual quotes > [Nowadays most people wear black most of the time anyway: go to a literary party and one would imagine everyone there was in perpetual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/nowadays-most-people-wear-black-most-of-the-time-anyway-go-to-a/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [The pain of love is the pain of being alive. It is a perpetual wound.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maureen-duffy/the-pain-of-love-is-the-pain-of-being-alive-it-is-a-perpetual-wound/) [Maureen Duffy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maureen-duffy/) > [The things of the world are ever rising and falling, and in perpetual change; and this change must be according to the will of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-von-humboldt/the-things-of-the-world-are-ever-rising-and-falling-and-in-perpetual/) [Wilhelm von Humboldt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-von-humboldt/) > [Art is beauty, the perpetual invention of detail, the choice of words, the exquisite care of execution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theophile-gautier/art-is-beauty-the-perpetual-invention-of-detail-the-choice-of-words/) [Theophile Gautier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theophile-gautier/) > [Painting' and 'religious experience' are the same thing. It is a question of the perpetual motion of a right idea.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-nicholson/painting-and-religious-experience-are-the-same-thing-it-is-a-question/) [Ben Nicholson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-nicholson/) > [My aim is to institute perpetual adoration," spoke St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe, Franciscan priest and founder of the Knights of the Immaculata. For he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maximilian-kolbe/my-aim-is-to-institute-perpetual-adoration-spoke-st-maximilian-maria/) [Maximilian Kolbe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maximilian-kolbe/) > [Pythagoras used to say that he had received as a gift from Mercury the perpetual transmigration of his soul, so that it was constantly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diogenes-laertius/pythagoras-used-to-say-that-he-had-received-as-a-gift-from-mercury/) [Diogenes Laertius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diogenes-laertius/) > [Every culture, if its natural development is not too much affected by political restrictions, experiences a perpetual renewal of the formative urge, and out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-rocker/every-culture-if-its-natural-development-is-not-too-much-affected-by/) [Rudolf Rocker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-rocker/) > [ ...he \[Muhammad\] declared undistinguishing and exterminating war, as a part of his religion, against all the rest of mankind...The precept of the Koran is,… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-quincy-adams/he-muhammad-declared-undistinguishing-and-exterminating-war-as-a-part/) [John Quincy Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-quincy-adams/) > [Is it necessary to practice all these asanas, further and further? Is it necessary to develop scientific researches further and further? To a yogi,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-k-s-iyengar/is-it-necessary-to-practice-all-these-asanas-further-and-further-is/) [B.K.S. Iyengar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-k-s-iyengar/) > [If there is a look of human eyes that tells of perpetual loneliness, so there is also the familiar look that is the sign…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-meynell/if-there-is-a-look-of-human-eyes-that-tells-of-perpetual-loneliness/) [Alice Meynell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-meynell/) > [My most earnest wish is to see the republican element of popular control pushed to the maximum of its practicable exercise. I shall then…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-jefferson/my-most-earnest-wish-is-to-see-the-republican-element-of-popular/) [Thomas Jefferson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-jefferson/) > [Instead of a perpetual and perfect measure of the divine will, the fragments of the Koran were produced at the discretion of Mahomet; each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/instead-of-a-perpetual-and-perfect-measure-of-the-divine-will-the/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [Science is not about control. It is about cultivating a perpetual condition of wonder in the face of something that forever grows one step…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-powers/science-is-not-about-control-it-is-about-cultivating-a-perpetual/) [Richard Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-powers/) > [Corporations are created by the people, acting through their governments. We grant them corporate charters that confer certain legal rights and privileges, like the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-mcgovern/corporations-are-created-by-the-people-acting-through-their/) [Jim McGovern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-mcgovern/) Browse all 697 Perpetual quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We can depend on the world being a perpetual surprise in perpetual motion.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Stephen Nachmanovitch" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpetual-surprise-in-perpetual/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Perpetual" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpetual-surprise-in-perpetual/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21c/stephen-nachmanovitch-10483_perpetual_we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpe_2062872.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21c/stephen-nachmanovitch-10483_perpetual_we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpe_2062872.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/21c/stephen-nachmanovitch-10483_perpetual_we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpe_2062872.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We can depend on the world being a perpetual surprise in perpetual motion.” — Stephen Nachmanovitch", "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": "Stephen Nachmanovitch", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-nachmanovitch/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We can depend on the world...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpetual-surprise-in-perpetual/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-nachmanovitch/we-can-depend-on-the-world-being-a-perpetual-surprise-in-perpetual/#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 } } ] } ```