--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: He figured somewhere in these territories…" description: "\"“He figured somewhere in these territories there was an enormous madhouse whose keeper had thrown up his hands in disgusted defeat and flung wide the p..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/william-gay-17446_failure_he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territorie_2102579.jpg" --- # He figured somewhere in these territories there was an… ![“He figured somewhere in these territories there was an enormous madhouse whose keeper had thrown up his hands in disgusted defeat and flung wide the portals so these twisted folk could descend like locusts on the countryside.” quote by William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/william-gay-17446_failure_he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territorie_2102579.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/william-gay-17446_failure_he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territorie_2102579.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/william-gay-17446_failure_he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territorie_2102579.jpg) > ““He figured somewhere in these territories there was an enormous madhouse whose keeper had thrown up his hands in disgusted defeat and flung wide the portals so these twisted folk could descend like locusts on the countryside.”” [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) ## 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 realm is described where a mad ruler abandons control, letting dangerous forces flood in. **In simple terms:** When order collapses, chaos spreads unchecked. Key Takeaway Maintain vigilance against loss of authority. Themes chaos authority collapse danger society Mood cautionary dark Type literary descriptive When to use this quote - political unrest - community safety - disaster response - law enforcement Key Concepts Anarchy power vacuum social breakdown Questions to Reflect On - What real-world systems can fail similarly? - How do societies rebuild after such collapse? A Different Perspective The metaphor may be exaggerated for dramatic effect. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Defeat Flung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/defeat-flung-4207871/) [Enormous Madhouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enormous-madhouse-4207870/) [Failure](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) [Flung Wide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flung-wide-697545/) [Madhouse Keeper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/madhouse-keeper-4207872/) [Portals Twisted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/portals-twisted-4207873/) ## Related quotes > [Sometimes there aren't words. The silence between us is flung wide as an ocean. 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There's no surety in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-savage/don-t-take-too-much-comfort-in-the-fact-that-you-re-successful-today/) [Michael Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-savage/) > [I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. They've tried it twice before, and the consequences were bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-segev/i-hope-that-the-palestinians-don-t-make-the-mistake-of-unleashing-a/) [Tom Segev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-segev/) > [“Our failure to understand another being's inner reality doesn't make that reality any less real, or any less valuable to that being. (p.255)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-schulz/our-failure-to-understand-another-being-s-inner-reality-doesn-t-make/) [Kathryn Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-schulz/) > [Don’t you just hate nights like that, when you think over every mistake you’ve made, every hurt you’ve received, every bit of meanness you’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlaine-harris/don-t-you-just-hate-nights-like-that-when-you-think-over-every/) [Charlaine Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlaine-harris/) > [God's love never fail :)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/god-s-love-never-fail/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [First action was a mistake. What about the second? third? fourth and fifth?...Mehn you are bad...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/first-action-was-a-mistake-what-about-the-second-third-fourth-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-my-child-had-prejudice-in-his-head-i-d-be-ashamed-i-would-see-it/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [Failure is a part of life and you have to learn to deal with it. Failure is something that is part of life's cycle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/failure-is-a-part-of-life-and-you-have-to-learn-to-deal-with-it/) [Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/) > [“Rhiannon's Law #28: If you're going to fuck up, be sure to fuck up good and proper. Nothing makes failure acceptable, so you might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/rhiannon-s-law-28-if-you-re-going-to-fuck-up-be-sure-to-fuck-up-good/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/no-one-is-completely-unhappy-at-the-failure-of-his-best-friend/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) > [Failures happen. You can't cry over them. You just take it in your stride because you know that you have done your best... Sometimes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/divya-dutta/failures-happen-you-can-t-cry-over-them-you-just-take-it-in-your/) [Divya Dutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/divya-dutta/) > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) ## More by William Gay > [“No move is the wrong move, What? Sometimes any move at all is better than nothin. If you're right, you're one up. If you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/no-move-is-the-wrong-move-what-sometimes-any-move-at-all-is-better/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [“don't start talkin about books or quotin poems at them. these is good folks but they ain't real crazy about readin books. just do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/don-t-start-talkin-about-books-or-quotin-poems-at-them-these-is-good/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [“He stayed out of the house, he was much of the time in the woods, he felt like some animal half domesticated but ultimately…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/he-stayed-out-of-the-house-he-was-much-of-the-time-in-the-woods-he/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [“Even when he'd arrived he'd had restless eyes, eyes that were always looking about as if he might notice some place he'd rather be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/even-when-he-d-arrived-he-d-had-restless-eyes-eyes-that-were-always/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [“Truth had hanged the way the landscape had changed to accommodate progress, altered by each generation to its purpose. 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It sounds like he spent his whole life trying to unlearn it. Trying to forget…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/you-don-t-learn-that-she-said-it-s-just-there-it-sounds-like-he-spent/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [“He was wishing the past was a place you could backtrack to, take a sideroad you'd walked hurriedly past, wake somebody from a bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/he-was-wishing-the-past-was-a-place-you-could-backtrack-to-take-a/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [“Hardin lived in a world he manipulated day to day, you never knew when a piece of information might have a use. Life was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/hardin-lived-in-a-world-he-manipulated-day-to-day-you-never-knew-when/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [“Outside in the barnlot he looked up and the pale moon was directly over him and all-encompassing. It appeared to be lowering itself onto…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/outside-in-the-barnlot-he-looked-up-and-the-pale-moon-was-directly/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [“He seemed to be drawing inward toward some point at which he would be reduced to the fundamental essence of himself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/he-seemed-to-be-drawing-inward-toward-some-point-at-which-he-would-be/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) > [“He heard footsteps on the ice and just as someone pounded on the door death came swiftly into the trailer like a physical presence.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/he-heard-footsteps-on-the-ice-and-just-as-someone-pounded-on-the-door/) [William Gay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) [Explore all 37 William Gay quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/) ## More Failure quotes > [When you do things they're absolutely right at that time for you and it can always teach you something about yourself. You can take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kym-marsh/when-you-do-things-they-re-absolutely-right-at-that-time-for-you-and/) [Kym Marsh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kym-marsh/) > [Failures happen. You can't cry over them. You just take it in your stride because you know that you have done your best... Sometimes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/divya-dutta/failures-happen-you-can-t-cry-over-them-you-just-take-it-in-your/) [Divya Dutta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/divya-dutta/) > [No one is completely unhappy at the failure of his best friend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/no-one-is-completely-unhappy-at-the-failure-of-his-best-friend/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) > [“Rhiannon's Law #28: If you're going to fuck up, be sure to fuck up good and proper. Nothing makes failure acceptable, so you might…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/rhiannon-s-law-28-if-you-re-going-to-fuck-up-be-sure-to-fuck-up-good/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Failure is a part of life and you have to learn to deal with it. Failure is something that is part of life's cycle…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colin-powell/failure-is-a-part-of-life-and-you-have-to-learn-to-deal-with-it/) [Colin Powell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colin-powell/) > [If my child had prejudice in his head, I'd be ashamed. I would see it as my failure as a parent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/salman-rushdie/if-my-child-had-prejudice-in-his-head-i-d-be-ashamed-i-would-see-it/) [Salman Rushdie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/salman-rushdie/) > [First action was a mistake. What about the second? third? fourth and fifth?...Mehn you are bad...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/first-action-was-a-mistake-what-about-the-second-third-fourth-and/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [God's love never fail :)](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/god-s-love-never-fail/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Don’t you just hate nights like that, when you think over every mistake you’ve made, every hurt you’ve received, every bit of meanness you’ve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlaine-harris/don-t-you-just-hate-nights-like-that-when-you-think-over-every/) [Charlaine Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlaine-harris/) > [“Our failure to understand another being's inner reality doesn't make that reality any less real, or any less valuable to that being. (p.255)”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-schulz/our-failure-to-understand-another-being-s-inner-reality-doesn-t-make/) [Kathryn Schulz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-schulz/) > [I hope that the Palestinians don't make the mistake of unleashing a new intifada. They've tried it twice before, and the consequences were bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-segev/i-hope-that-the-palestinians-don-t-make-the-mistake-of-unleashing-a/) [Tom Segev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-segev/) > [Don't take too much comfort in the fact that you're successful today because tomorrow could bring failure. There's no surety in life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-savage/don-t-take-too-much-comfort-in-the-fact-that-you-re-successful-today/) [Michael Savage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-savage/) > [“It took me years to learn to sit at my desk for more than two minutes at a time, to put up with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/it-took-me-years-to-learn-to-sit-at-my-desk-for-more-than-two-minutes/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [failure in the theater is more public, more brilliant, more unreal than in any other field.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/failure-in-the-theater-is-more-public-more-brilliant-more-unreal-than/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [As we are coming to the end of the year, I want you to forget about the past, the failure, the negative thoughts or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/as-we-are-coming-to-the-end-of-the-year-i-want-you-to-forget-about/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 27,498 Failure quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/failure/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“He figured somewhere in these territories there was an enormous madhouse whose keeper had thrown up his hands in disgusted defeat and flung wide the portals so these twisted folk could descend like locusts on the countryside.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William Gay" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territories-there-was-an-enormous/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Failure" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territories-there-was-an-enormous/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/william-gay-17446_failure_he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territorie_2102579.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/william-gay-17446_failure_he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territorie_2102579.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e85/william-gay-17446_failure_he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territorie_2102579.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“He figured somewhere in these territories there was an enormous madhouse whose keeper had thrown up his…” — William Gay", "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": "William Gay", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gay/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“He figured somewhere in these territories...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territories-there-was-an-enormous/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gay/he-figured-somewhere-in-these-territories-there-was-an-enormous/#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 } } ] } ```