---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: there was no saving the world. the world…"
description: "\"“there was no saving the world. the world was going to do what the world was doing [sic] to do.”\" — Terry Goodkind"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e8/terry-goodkind-924_inevitability_there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world_2169609.jpg"
---

#  there was no saving the world. the world was going to do…

![“there was no saving the world. the world was going to do what the world was doing &#91;sic&#93; to do.” quote by Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e8/terry-goodkind-924_inevitability_there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world_2169609.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e8/terry-goodkind-924_inevitability_there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world_2169609.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e8/terry-goodkind-924_inevitability_there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world_2169609.jpg)

> ““there was no saving the world. the world was going to do what the world was doing \[sic\] to do.””

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The world will continue its course regardless of attempts to save it.

**In simple terms:** World persists despite rescue attempts.

Key Takeaway

Accept limits, act wisely.

Themes

fate agency world resilience

Mood

realistic somber

Type

philosophical motivational

When to use this quote

- environmental activism
- political reform
- personal change

Key Concepts

determinism ethics storytelling

Questions to Reflect On

- What can you change locally?
- When is acceptance appropriate?

A Different Perspective

Changing the world is difficult but possible.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Inevitability](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inevitability/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/)

## Related quotes

> [I don't know what better teenage life you could get than going around the world doing what you love to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-kournikova/i-don-t-know-what-better-teenage-life-you-could-get-than-going-around/)

[Anna Kournikova](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-kournikova/)

> [Until now in world's history, whenever we've had a dark age, its been temporary and local. And other parts of the world have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isaac-asimov/until-now-in-world-s-history-whenever-we-ve-had-a-dark-age-its-been/)

[Isaac Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isaac-asimov/)

> [The thing that's great about being a costume designer is you never know what's going to be next; you never what world you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colleen-atwood/the-thing-that-s-great-about-being-a-costume-designer-is-you-never/)

[Colleen Atwood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colleen-atwood/)

> [There are terrible things going on in the world, but I am not going to force them down everyone's throats.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-taylor-johnson/there-are-terrible-things-going-on-in-the-world-but-i-am-not-going-to/)

[Sam Taylor-Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-taylor-johnson/)

> [The world is on fire, and I'm doing my best to help steer the firetruck.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-mckibben/the-world-is-on-fire-and-i-m-doing-my-best-to-help-steer-the-firetruck/)

[Bill McKibben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-mckibben/)

> [Somewhere in the world, someone is doing something that you decided couldn't be done.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seth-godin/somewhere-in-the-world-someone-is-doing-something-that-you-decided/)

[Seth Godin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seth-godin/)

> [My husband's the first one to say, "This is not the end of the world." We're doing what we want to do - what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cindy-mccain/my-husband-s-the-first-one-to-say-this-is-not-the-end-of-the-world-we/)

[Cindy McCain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cindy-mccain/)

> [“There is no one there to see it. The world is doing what it always does, demonstrating itself to itself. The world has no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-cunningham/there-is-no-one-there-to-see-it-the-world-is-doing-what-it-always/)

[Michael Cunningham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-cunningham/)

> [You look at what the world is doing to us at every level, whether it's militarily, or in trade, or in so many other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-trump/you-look-at-what-the-world-is-doing-to-us-at-every-level-whether-it-s/)

[Donald Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-trump/)

> [I'm jealous of Peter Beard because he went all over the world doing his thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michele-lamy/i-m-jealous-of-peter-beard-because-he-went-all-over-the-world-doing/)

[Michele Lamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michele-lamy/)

> [You know what, if I had to do it all again, I would do the same things as before. I would meet the same…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antonio-rodrigo-nogueira/you-know-what-if-i-had-to-do-it-all-again-i-would-do-the-same-things/)

[Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antonio-rodrigo-nogueira/)

> [Don't try to compare yourself with anyone in this world if you are doing so you are downgrading your ability to be on top…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hemant-kshatriya/don-t-try-to-compare-yourself-with-anyone-in-this-world-if-you-are/)

Hemant Kshatriya

> [In My World it's about being more than doing .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jinzo/in-my-world-it-s-about-being-more-than-doing/)

Jinzo

> [If this were a fantasy world, there would be ten of me and we would each be doing what we wanted to do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-lucas/if-this-were-a-fantasy-world-there-would-be-ten-of-me-and-we-would/)

[George Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-lucas/)

> [Harlem World' is all about me doing my thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mase/harlem-world-is-all-about-me-doing-my-thing/)

[Mase](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mase/)

## More by Terry Goodkind

> [Sometimes, it is necessary to step beyond what you have known and to reach for something more.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/sometimes-it-is-necessary-to-step-beyond-what-you-have-known-and-to/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [“It should hurt, shouldn’t it? Shouldn’t it hurt to be ripped in half? But it didn’t. It didn’t hurt the least little bit. Cold.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/it-should-hurt-shouldn-t-it-shouldn-t-it-hurt-to-be-ripped-in-half/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [Dancing with death meant being committed to killing, committed with your heart and soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/dancing-with-death-meant-being-committed-to-killing-committed-with/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [Only a fool walks into the future backwards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/only-a-fool-walks-into-the-future-backwards/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [“Sometimes it's more important to seize the chance and do what you can even knowing that it won't likely account for everything, that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/sometimes-it-s-more-important-to-seize-the-chance-and-do-what-you-can/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [“While it was understandable to be afraid, and no one would expect you not to be, the worst thing you could do was to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/while-it-was-understandable-to-be-afraid-and-no-one-would-expect-you/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [“Leadership is a nurturing of those under your command.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/leadership-is-a-nurturing-of-those-under-your-command/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [“To question me once is a simple mistake, Lieutenant. Twice is treason. We execute traitors.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/to-question-me-once-is-a-simple-mistake-lieutenant-twice-is-treason/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [Fate does not seek our consent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/fate-does-not-seek-our-consent/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [Wizard's Third Rule Passion rules reason, For better or for worse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/wizard-s-third-rule-passion-rules-reason-for-better-or-for-worse/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [“Nicci looked up at Kahlan. “Knives are not my talent.” “It’s not hard,” Kahlan said as she pressed the handle into Nicci’s hand. “When…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/nicci-looked-up-at-kahlan-knives-are-not-my-talent-it-s-not-hard/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [“This was why he couldn’t let Richard know it was the chimes themselves that were loose. Richard would not have accepted what Zedd intended,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/this-was-why-he-couldn-t-let-richard-know-it-was-the-chimes/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [“price. There is no such thing as pure good or pure evil, least of all in people. In the best of us there are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/price-there-is-no-such-thing-as-pure-good-or-pure-evil-least-of-all/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [The first step to believing something is true is wanting to believe it is true... or being afraid it is.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/the-first-step-to-believing-something-is-true-is-wanting-to-believe/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

> [...you'll find that being a friend is to like a person for who they are, even the parts you don't understand. You don't have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/you-ll-find-that-being-a-friend-is-to-like-a-person-for-who-they-are/)

[Terry Goodkind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

[Explore all 323 Terry Goodkind quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/)

## More Inevitability quotes

> [He decided then that he would love her forever no matter what came to pass. It was not so much a matter of deciding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-guterson/he-decided-then-that-he-would-love-her-forever-no-matter-what-came-to/)

[David Guterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-guterson/)

> [“We allowed ourselves to accept the politics of inevitability, the sense that history could move in only one direction: toward liberal democracy...We imbibed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/we-allowed-ourselves-to-accept-the-politics-of-inevitability-the/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“Both of these positions, inevitability and eternity, are antihistorical. The only thing that stands between them is history itself. History allows us to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/both-of-these-positions-inevitability-and-eternity-are-antihistorical/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“Thus, for our purposes, genes aren’t about inevitability. Instead they’re about context-dependent tendencies, propensities, potentials, and vulnerabilities. All embedded in the fabric of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-m-sapolsky/thus-for-our-purposes-genes-aren-t-about-inevitability-instead-they/)

[Robert M. Sapolsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-m-sapolsky/)

> [“Part of the apparently conventional nature of our relationships is the threat of separation and death. This body dies. That body dies. We can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adi-da-samraj/part-of-the-apparently-conventional-nature-of-our-relationships-is/)

[Adi Da Samraj](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adi-da-samraj/)

> [There is the extreme of hopelessness and the inevitability of doom, a deep despair that comes from the sense that our industrial, consuming society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-keen/there-is-the-extreme-of-hopelessness-and-the-inevitability-of-doom-a/)

[Sam Keen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-keen/)

> [“In that moment I’m able to accept the inevitability of how I feel, though not with joy. I need to talk to someone. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/veronica-roth/in-that-moment-i-m-able-to-accept-the-inevitability-of-how-i-feel/)

[Veronica Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/veronica-roth/)

> [I think my way of showing violence is unique from that of other filmmakers, in that when I show it, it hurts. It happens…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/takeshi-kitano/i-think-my-way-of-showing-violence-is-unique-from-that-of-other/)

[Takeshi Kitano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/takeshi-kitano/)

> [Liberalism, on the other hand, regards life as an adventure in which we must take risks in new situations, in which there is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morris-raphael-cohen/liberalism-on-the-other-hand-regards-life-as-an-adventure-in-which-we/)

[Morris Raphael Cohen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morris-raphael-cohen/)

> [“I'm beginning to feel as though everything has happened before, that our story has already been told. Just as we were powerless to stop…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-humphreys/i-m-beginning-to-feel-as-though-everything-has-happened-before-that/)

[Helen Humphreys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-humphreys/)

> [“These things happen. And we say to ourselves, “Never again.” And a hundred years pass. And they happen. Again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/qntm/these-things-happen-and-we-say-to-ourselves-never-again-and-a-hundred/)

Qntm

> [Senescence is an inevitability. All we can do is try to strike the balance between graceful acceptance and raging against the dying light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marty-nemko/senescence-is-an-inevitability-all-we-can-do-is-try-to-strike-the/)

[Marty Nemko](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marty-nemko/)

> [What we, thanks to Jung, call "synchronicity" (coincidence on steroids), Buddhists have long known as "the interpenetration of realities." Whether it's a natural law…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-robbins/what-we-thanks-to-jung-call-synchronicity-coincidence-on-steroids/)

[Tom Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-robbins/)

> [My will broke at the sound of his voice, and my head turned with as much inevitability as a sunflower turning its face to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patricia-briggs/my-will-broke-at-the-sound-of-his-voice-and-my-head-turned-with-as/)

[Patricia Briggs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patricia-briggs/)

> [“We are so used to the notion of our own inevitability as life’s dominant species that it is hard to grasp that we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-bryson/we-are-so-used-to-the-notion-of-our-own-inevitability-as-life-s/)

[Bill Bryson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-bryson/)

[Browse all 231 Inevitability quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inevitability/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“there was no saving the world. the world was going to do what the world was doing [sic] to do.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Terry Goodkind"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world-was-going-to-do-what-the/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Inevitability"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world-was-going-to-do-what-the/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e8/terry-goodkind-924_inevitability_there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world_2169609.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e8/terry-goodkind-924_inevitability_there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world_2169609.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7e8/terry-goodkind-924_inevitability_there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world_2169609.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“there was no saving the world. the world was going to do what the world was doing [sic] to do.” — Terry Goodkind",
                "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": "Terry Goodkind",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-goodkind/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“there was no saving the world....",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world-was-going-to-do-what-the/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-goodkind/there-was-no-saving-the-world-the-world-was-going-to-do-what-the/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
