--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In the dark, in no starlight at all, the…" description: "\"“In the dark, in no starlight at all, the blocks hurtled invisibly by, ejected into the night air; he heard them break but he believed it was only the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/170/steve-erickson-9119_broken-windows_in-the-dark-in-no-starlight-at-all-the-b_1522378.jpg" --- # In the dark, in no starlight at all, the blocks hurtled… ![“In the dark, in no starlight at all, the blocks hurtled invisibly by, ejected into the night air; he heard them break but he believed it was only the echoes of broken windows, not even his broken windows but someone else’s in some other city, people all over the night searching madly for those who…” quote by Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/170/steve-erickson-9119_broken-windows_in-the-dark-in-no-starlight-at-all-the-b_1522378.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/170/steve-erickson-9119_broken-windows_in-the-dark-in-no-starlight-at-all-the-b_1522378.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/170/steve-erickson-9119_broken-windows_in-the-dark-in-no-starlight-at-all-the-b_1522378.jpg) > ““In the dark, in no starlight at all, the blocks hurtled invisibly by, ejected into the night air; he heard them break but he believed it was only the echoes of broken windows, not even his broken windows but someone else’s in some other city, people all over the night searching madly for those who transmitted the vague and unpersuasive frequency of destiny, not even this night but some other night that came before, from which the sound of breaking windows reached him only now like the light of novae. Ice busting in the dirt. The storm turned north.”” [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A chaotic, nightmarish scene where distant, unseen forces cause destruction, and the narrator misinterprets the sounds, reflecting existential disorientation. **In simple terms:** Confusing destruction and misperception in darkness. Key Takeaway Question hidden forces and their impact. Themes chaos perception destiny isolation misinterpretation Mood uneasy foreboding reflective Type literary philosophical descriptive When to use this quote - nighttime travel - urban decay - psychological thriller - science fiction narrative Key Concepts existentialism entropy subjective reality Questions to Reflect On - How do we interpret signs when reality feels fragmented? - What does “frequency of destiny” suggest about free will? A Different Perspective The passage assumes an omniscient tone that may alienate readers seeking clarity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Broken windows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/broken-windows/) [Dark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dark/) [Light](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/light/) [Moon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moon/) [Night](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night/) [Night Came](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night-came-471893/) [Night Searching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/night-searching-5629823/) [Turned North](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/turned-north-2303921/) ## Related quotes > [“They came out into the open, and it was the grimy backwaters of Jersey City now. Tall factory stacks, and fires burning, and spreads…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornell-woolrich/they-came-out-into-the-open-and-it-was-the-grimy-backwaters-of-jersey/) [Cornell Woolrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornell-woolrich/) > [So open your eyes child, let's be on our way. Broken windows and ashes are guiding the way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/so-open-your-eyes-child-let-s-be-on-our-way-broken-windows-and-ashes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Broken Window Theory: Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/broken-window-theory-consider-a-building-with-a-few-broken-windows-if/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [People who leave their cars on the street with tape covering their broken windows are obviously too trusting. I mean, when your car did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-karo/people-who-leave-their-cars-on-the-street-with-tape-covering-their/) [Aaron Karo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-karo/) > [Police ought to protect communities as well as individuals… Just as physicians now recognize the importance of fostering health rather than simply treating illness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-q-wilson/police-ought-to-protect-communities-as-well-as-individuals-just-as/) [James Q. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-q-wilson/) > [One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-q-wilson/one-unrepaired-broken-window-is-a-signal-that-no-one-cares-and-so/) [James Q. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-q-wilson/) > [“The Nazis had broken our windows and torn apart our furniture, but they had not destroyed our selves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-sharenow/the-nazis-had-broken-our-windows-and-torn-apart-our-furniture-but/) [Robert Sharenow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-sharenow/) > [“Broken Windows theory and the Power of Context are one and the same. They are both based on the premise that an epidemic can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/broken-windows-theory-and-the-power-of-context-are-one-and-the-same/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [“feel the broken windows theory can be applied to your home and workspace. If you’re surrounded by piles of clutter, it can have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-j-scott/feel-the-broken-windows-theory-can-be-applied-to-your-home-and/) [S.J. Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-j-scott/) > [The point they (Lissitzky, Rodchenko, Tatlin, Gabo, the neo-Plasticists, and so on) all had in common was to be inside and outside at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/the-point-they-lissitzky-rodchenko-tatlin-gabo-the-neo-plasticists/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [But the most horrible spot … lies…immediately south west of Oxford Road and is known as Little Ireland. The race that lives in these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/but-the-most-horrible-spot-lies-immediately-south-west-of-oxford-road/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [“Let me tell you: where the knife failed, you have succeeded. He is shattered - you have turned out all his lights! You have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-perry/let-me-tell-you-where-the-knife-failed-you-have-succeeded-he-is/) [Sarah Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-perry/) > [Public order is a fragile thing, and if you don't fix the first broken window, soon all the windows will be broken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-q-wilson/public-order-is-a-fragile-thing-and-if-you-don-t-fix-the-first-broken/) [James Q. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-q-wilson/) > [“Where others saw a dilapidated farmhouse with broken windows and collapsed roof she saw a couple pushing off on the wooden porch swing, caught…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-patrick-howard/where-others-saw-a-dilapidated-farmhouse-with-broken-windows-and/) [Rebecca Patrick-Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-patrick-howard/) > [A particular rule that seems to make sense in the individual case makes no sense when it is made a universal rule and applied…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-q-wilson/a-particular-rule-that-seems-to-make-sense-in-the-individual-case/) [James Q. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-q-wilson/) ## More by Steve Erickson > [If you're a smart writer, you listen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/if-you-re-a-smart-writer-you-listen/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [To the extent that I've ever understood postmodernism - and I'm sure there are people out there who do, but I'm not one of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/to-the-extent-that-i-ve-ever-understood-postmodernism-and-i-m-sure/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [I have members of my immediate family, and my wife's immediate family, who voted for Donald Trump, and now there's this gulf that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/i-have-members-of-my-immediate-family-and-my-wife-s-immediate-family/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [Before I begin a novel I have a strong sense of at least one central character and how the story begins, and a more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/before-i-begin-a-novel-i-have-a-strong-sense-of-at-least-one-central/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [I'm my own "ideal reader" in the sense that I write novels that I would want to read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/i-m-my-own-ideal-reader-in-the-sense-that-i-write-novels-that-i-would/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [The material dictates the approach. I tell the stories in the way that feels natural to tell them. Certainly the last thing I want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/the-material-dictates-the-approach-i-tell-the-stories-in-the-way-that/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [“Everyone, she says, is his own age of meaning.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/everyone-she-says-is-his-own-age-of-meaning/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [“When the thing that emerged from the collision of sex and freedom, called love, collided with the thing that emerged from the collision of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/when-the-thing-that-emerged-from-the-collision-of-sex-and-freedom/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [While I do believe I become a technically better writer over time, in others ways writing gets harder because inspiration is finite.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/while-i-do-believe-i-become-a-technically-better-writer-over-time-in/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [Obviously cheap sentimentality isn't something any good novelist wants to traffic in, but I think it's a problem if you consider it to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/obviously-cheap-sentimentality-isn-t-something-any-good-novelist/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [“The human heart commits its greatest treachery by healing. It commits its greatest treachery by surviving the love that was supposed to last forever,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/the-human-heart-commits-its-greatest-treachery-by-healing-it-commits/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [While a particularly deft sense of irony may be one of the tools of great storytellers, I think it's also true that if irony…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/while-a-particularly-deft-sense-of-irony-may-be-one-of-the-tools-of/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [I believe novels can have secrets from their author, a notion I imagine would appall Nabokov.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/i-believe-novels-can-have-secrets-from-their-author-a-notion-i/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [“The Movies have always been here. The Movies were here before God. Time is round like a reel of film. God hates the Movies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/the-movies-have-always-been-here-the-movies-were-here-before-god-time/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) > [When L.A.’s schizophrenia between Dreamland and Utopia was becoming socially manifest, the United States, which was always a place, went to war with America,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-erickson/when-l-a-s-schizophrenia-between-dreamland-and-utopia-was-becoming/) [Steve Erickson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) [Explore all 74 Steve Erickson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-erickson/) ## More Broken windows quotes > [So open your eyes child, let's be on our way. Broken windows and ashes are guiding the way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/so-open-your-eyes-child-let-s-be-on-our-way-broken-windows-and-ashes/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Where others saw a dilapidated farmhouse with broken windows and collapsed roof she saw a couple pushing off on the wooden porch swing, caught…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-patrick-howard/where-others-saw-a-dilapidated-farmhouse-with-broken-windows-and/) [Rebecca Patrick-Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-patrick-howard/) > [Public order is a fragile thing, and if you don't fix the first broken window, soon all the windows will be broken.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-q-wilson/public-order-is-a-fragile-thing-and-if-you-don-t-fix-the-first-broken/) [James Q. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-q-wilson/) > [“Let me tell you: where the knife failed, you have succeeded. He is shattered - you have turned out all his lights! You have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-perry/let-me-tell-you-where-the-knife-failed-you-have-succeeded-he-is/) [Sarah Perry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-perry/) > [But the most horrible spot … lies…immediately south west of Oxford Road and is known as Little Ireland. The race that lives in these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/but-the-most-horrible-spot-lies-immediately-south-west-of-oxford-road/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [The point they (Lissitzky, Rodchenko, Tatlin, Gabo, the neo-Plasticists, and so on) all had in common was to be inside and outside at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willem-de-kooning/the-point-they-lissitzky-rodchenko-tatlin-gabo-the-neo-plasticists/) [Willem de Kooning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willem-de-kooning/) > [“feel the broken windows theory can be applied to your home and workspace. If you’re surrounded by piles of clutter, it can have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/s-j-scott/feel-the-broken-windows-theory-can-be-applied-to-your-home-and/) [S.J. Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/s-j-scott/) > [“Broken Windows theory and the Power of Context are one and the same. They are both based on the premise that an epidemic can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/broken-windows-theory-and-the-power-of-context-are-one-and-the-same/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [“The Nazis had broken our windows and torn apart our furniture, but they had not destroyed our selves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-sharenow/the-nazis-had-broken-our-windows-and-torn-apart-our-furniture-but/) [Robert Sharenow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-sharenow/) > [One unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares, and so breaking more windows costs nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-q-wilson/one-unrepaired-broken-window-is-a-signal-that-no-one-cares-and-so/) [James Q. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-q-wilson/) > [Police ought to protect communities as well as individuals… Just as physicians now recognize the importance of fostering health rather than simply treating illness,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-q-wilson/police-ought-to-protect-communities-as-well-as-individuals-just-as/) [James Q. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-q-wilson/) > [People who leave their cars on the street with tape covering their broken windows are obviously too trusting. I mean, when your car did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-karo/people-who-leave-their-cars-on-the-street-with-tape-covering-their/) [Aaron Karo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-karo/) > [Broken Window Theory: Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/broken-window-theory-consider-a-building-with-a-few-broken-windows-if/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A particular rule that seems to make sense in the individual case makes no sense when it is made a universal rule and applied…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-q-wilson/a-particular-rule-that-seems-to-make-sense-in-the-individual-case/) [James Q. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-q-wilson/) > [The police are not taking accountability for the violence that they enact in our communities, and yet there isn't as much outrage about that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alicia-garza/the-police-are-not-taking-accountability-for-the-violence-that-they/) [Alicia Garza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alicia-garza/) [Browse all 18 Broken windows quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/broken-windows/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“In the dark, in no starlight at all, the blocks hurtled invisibly by, ejected into the night air; he heard them break but he believed it was only the echoes of broken windows, not even his broken windows but someone else’s in some other city, people all over the night searching madly for those who transmitted the vague and unpersuasive frequency of destiny, not even this night but some other night that came before, from which the sound of breaking windows reached him only now like the light of novae. 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