--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Accident is design / And design is…" description: "\"Accident is design / And design is accident / In a cloud of unknowing.\" — T. S. Eliot" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c2/t-s-eliot-633_accident_accident-is-design-and-design-is-acciden_2926871.png" --- # Accident is design / And design is accident / In a cloud… ![“Accident is design / And design is accident / In a cloud of unknowing.” quote by T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c2/t-s-eliot-633_accident_accident-is-design-and-design-is-acciden_2926871.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c2/t-s-eliot-633_accident_accident-is-design-and-design-is-acciden_2926871.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c2/t-s-eliot-633_accident_accident-is-design-and-design-is-acciden_2926871.png) > “Accident is design / And design is accident / In a cloud of unknowing.” [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Design and accident are intertwined, existing within uncertainty. **In simple terms:** Design and accident coexist in uncertainty. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty, create meaning. Themes uncertainty design accident Mood thoughtful poetic Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - creative work - problem solving Key Concepts philosophy art theory Questions to Reflect On - How do you find order in chaos? - Can accidents become intentional? A Different Perspective Chaos can undermine planning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accident](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accident/) [Accidents](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accidents/) [Design](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/design/) [Unknowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unknowing/) ## Related quotes > [“ The Cloud of Unknowing was written by someone who was exceedingly tough-minded in the sense in which William James used the phrase. He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ira-progoff/the-cloud-of-unknowing-was-written-by-someone-who-was-exceedingly/) [Ira Progoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ira-progoff/) > [“The Cloud of Unknowing is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geerhardus-vos/the-cloud-of-unknowing-is-an-anonymous-work-of-christian-mysticism/) [Geerhardus Vos](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geerhardus-vos/) > [Did the gods once mingle with humankind, or is Homer a visionary madman, or, what is worse, a mere poet, a maker-up of beautiful…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eva-brann/did-the-gods-once-mingle-with-humankind-or-is-homer-a-visionary/) [Eva Brann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eva-brann/) > [“At the heart of all truth lies a radiant cloud of unknowing, a glorious nugget of doubt, a shining core of impermanence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-k-morrow/at-the-heart-of-all-truth-lies-a-radiant-cloud-of-unknowing-a/) [James K. Morrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-k-morrow/) > [My career has sort of been characterized by taking advantage of the changes in the marketplace, sometimes by design, sometimes by accident.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-callender/my-career-has-sort-of-been-characterized-by-taking-advantage-of-the/) [Colin Callender](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-callender/) > [Success isn't something you achieve by accident, but rather by design.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-h-murdock/success-isn-t-something-you-achieve-by-accident-but-rather-by-design/) [David H. Murdock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-h-murdock/) > [I became an actor by accident, not by design.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-lipton/i-became-an-actor-by-accident-not-by-design/) [James Lipton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-lipton/) > [“Fathers are teachers of the true and not-true, and no father ever knowingly teaches what is not true. In a cloud of unknowing, then,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-barthelme/fathers-are-teachers-of-the-true-and-not-true-and-no-father-ever/) [Donald Barthelme](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-barthelme/) > [“A place has a curious quality when you have only a partial understanding of its language, and in those early months the sensation was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-kitamura/a-place-has-a-curious-quality-when-you-have-only-a-partial/) [Katie Kitamura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-kitamura/) > [Truth walks toward us on the paths of our questions. As soon as you think you have the answer, you have closed the path…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-winspear/truth-walks-toward-us-on-the-paths-of-our-questions-as-soon-as-you/) [Jacqueline Winspear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-winspear/) > [I want to preserve a certain unknowing about my own poems - perhaps because unknowing is in itself a useful poetic thirst. To move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-hirshfield/i-want-to-preserve-a-certain-unknowing-about-my-own-poems-perhaps/) [Jane Hirshfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-hirshfield/) > [“Unknowing, or agnosia, is not ignorance or absence of knowledge as ordinarily understood, but rather the realization that no finite knowledge can fully know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pseudo-dionysius-the-areopagite/unknowing-or-agnosia-is-not-ignorance-or-absence-of-knowledge-as/) Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite > [When I went to school, they told me literature was a rope I must use to climb out of the dark well of unknowing.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-stone/when-i-went-to-school-they-told-me-literature-was-a-rope-i-must-use/) [Jennifer Stone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-stone/) > [ \[W\]e must come into a transformed knowing, an unknowing which comes not from ignorance but from knowledge. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meister-eckhart/w-e-must-come-into-a-transformed-knowing-an-unknowing-which-comes-not/) [Meister Eckhart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meister-eckhart/) > [“Who knows about another's love? The more you love the more you know the burnt out loss of love, the more you heed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/who-knows-about-another-s-love-the-more-you-love-the-more-you-know/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) ## More by T. S. Eliot > [The Nobel is a ticket to one's own funeral. No one has ever done anything after he got it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-nobel-is-a-ticket-to-one-s-own-funeral-no-one-has-ever-done/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Dear Mother, I am getting on nicely in my work at the bank, and like it ... I want to find out something about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/dear-mother-i-am-getting-on-nicely-in-my-work-at-the-bank-and-like-it/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, But the faith and the love and the hope are all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/for-love-would-be-love-of-the-wrong-thing-there-is-yet-faith-but-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We must always take risks. That is our destiny.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-must-always-take-risks-that-is-our-destiny/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [All significant truths are private truths. As they become public they cease to become truths; they become facts, or at best, part of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/all-significant-truths-are-private-truths-as-they-become-public-they/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [When forced to work within a strict framework, the imagination is taxed to its utmost and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/when-forced-to-work-within-a-strict-framework-the-imagination-is/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation are directed not upon the poet but upon the poetry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/honest-criticism-and-sensitive-appreciation-are-directed-not-upon-the/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Desire itself is movement Not in itself desirable; Love is itself unmoving, Only the cause and end of movement, Timeless, and undesiring Except in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/desire-itself-is-movement-not-in-itself-desirable-love-is-itself/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [ the ordinary man's experience is chaotic, irregular, fragmentary. \[He\] falls in love or reads Spinoza, and these two experiences have nothing to do with… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-ordinary-man-s-experience-is-chaotic-irregular-fragmentary-he/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [We had the experience, but we missed the meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/we-had-the-experience-but-we-missed-the-meaning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The end is in the beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-end-is-in-the-beginning/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [You have learned enough to see that cats are much like you and me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/you-have-learned-enough-to-see-that-cats-are-much-like-you-and-me/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique, utterly different than that from which it is torn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/the-good-poet-welds-his-theft-into-a-whole-of-feeling-which-is-unique/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [It's strange that words are so inadequate. Yet, like the asthmatic struggling for breath, so the lover must struggle for words.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/it-s-strange-that-words-are-so-inadequate-yet-like-the-asthmatic/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) > [Every end is a beginning...And every beginning is an end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/t-s-eliot/every-end-is-a-beginning-and-every-beginning-is-an-end/) [T. S. Eliot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) [Explore all 433 T. S. Eliot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/t-s-eliot/) ## More Accident quotes > [Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit, but only a probability of such: it is an accident, not a property, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-carlyle/fame-we-may-understand-is-no-sure-test-of-merit-but-only-a/) [Thomas Carlyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-carlyle/) > [I went to school at night in L.A. to brush up on my engineering while I applied to the astronaut program. I really did…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mae-jemison/i-went-to-school-at-night-in-l-a-to-brush-up-on-my-engineering-while/) [Mae Jemison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mae-jemison/) > [“The accident in your rearview mirror already happened. The one in front of you is still preventable. Pay attention.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nakia-r-laushaul/the-accident-in-your-rearview-mirror-already-happened-the-one-in/) [Nakia R. Laushaul](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nakia-r-laushaul/) > [People dont get married by accident and they dont get divorced by accident.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darren-hayes/people-dont-get-married-by-accident-and-they-dont-get-divorced-by/) [Darren Hayes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darren-hayes/) > [My father had Parkinson's, though he actually died following a bicycle accident.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kt-tunstall/my-father-had-parkinson-s-though-he-actually-died-following-a-bicycle/) [KT Tunstall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kt-tunstall/) > [A tragic car accident put me in a wheelchair and dashed my hopes and dreams for the future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madison-cawthorn/a-tragic-car-accident-put-me-in-a-wheelchair-and-dashed-my-hopes-and/) [Madison Cawthorn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madison-cawthorn/) > [My musical career was an accident.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sade-adu/my-musical-career-was-an-accident/) [Sade Adu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sade-adu/) > [The spirit in the body is like wine in a glass; when it spills, it seeps into air and earth and light….It’s a mistake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-michaels/the-spirit-in-the-body-is-like-wine-in-a-glass-when-it-spills-it/) [Anne Michaels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-michaels/) > [accident ruled every corner of the universe except the chambers of the human heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-guterson/accident-ruled-every-corner-of-the-universe-except-the-chambers-of/) [David Guterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-guterson/) > [There is a French expression that says: to be exposed to an accident, to cross a street without looking at the cars means exposing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-virilio/there-is-a-french-expression-that-says-to-be-exposed-to-an-accident/) [Paul Virilio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-virilio/) > [It's no accident that most self-help groups use 'anonymous' in their names; to Americans, the first step toward redemption is a ritual wiping out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kirn/it-s-no-accident-that-most-self-help-groups-use-anonymous-in-their/) [Walter Kirn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kirn/) > [High birth is an accident, not a virtue.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pietro-metastasio/high-birth-is-an-accident-not-a-virtue/) [Pietro Metastasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pietro-metastasio/) > [“I just got out of the hospital. I was in a speed reading accident. I hit a book mark and flew across the room.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-wright/i-just-got-out-of-the-hospital-i-was-in-a-speed-reading-accident-i/) [Steven Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-wright/) > [However, I met with a horrible accident while riding my bike in Sangla Valley. The accident was a wakeup call for me stop getting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhinav-shukla/however-i-met-with-a-horrible-accident-while-riding-my-bike-in-sangla/) [Abhinav Shukla](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhinav-shukla/) > [“Because the core of my personal philosophy is that everything that happens to us benefits us, I was also spared the futility of cursing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/because-the-core-of-my-personal-philosophy-is-that-everything-that/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 922 Accident quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accident/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Accident is design / And design is accident / In a cloud of unknowing.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "T. S. 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