--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Ghosts are nothing if not capricious." description: "\"“Ghosts are nothing if not capricious.”\" — William Gibson" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/william-gibson-642_capricious_ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious-130_1303788.png" --- # Ghosts are nothing if not capricious. ![“Ghosts are nothing if not capricious.” quote by William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/william-gibson-642_capricious_ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious-130_1303788.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/william-gibson-642_capricious_ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious-130_1303788.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/william-gibson-642_capricious_ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious-130_1303788.png) > ““Ghosts are nothing if not capricious.”” [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Capriciousness is the only certainty about ghosts; they act unpredictably. **In simple terms:** Ghosts are unpredictable. Key Takeaway Accept uncertainty in the unknown. Themes mystery uncertainty supernatural Mood curious eerie Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - haunted houses - paranormal investigations - creative writing - role‑playing games Key Concepts capriciousness existential ambiguity Questions to Reflect On - How do you react when faced with unpredictable phenomena? - What does capriciousness reveal about our need for control? A Different Perspective Ghosts may be symbolic rather than literal, limiting practical relevance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Capricious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capricious/) [Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost/) [Ghosts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghosts/) [Ghosts Capricious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghosts-capricious-4290146/) ## Related quotes > [There is something about the South that accepts the supernatural. If you don't accept it and you're having a conversation with someone who does,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-englert/there-is-something-about-the-south-that-accepts-the-supernatural-if/) [Alice Englert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-englert/) > [New ideas seem like frightening ghosts to people at the beginning; they run away from them for a long time, but they get tired…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/new-ideas-seem-like-frightening-ghosts-to-people-at-the-beginning/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) > [Ghosts cannot be put on the witness stand, or have their fingerprints taken. They are completely proof against proof.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ariana-franklin/ghosts-cannot-be-put-on-the-witness-stand-or-have-their-fingerprints/) [Ariana Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ariana-franklin/) > [“Every town has ‘THAT house’: the one that once held dark secrets. You know the house… the one no one will purchase? The one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-caskey/every-town-has-that-house-the-one-that-once-held-dark-secrets-you/) [James Caskey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-caskey/) > [...you don't need ghosts to be haunted. Memory does that just fine without any supernatural help at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurell-k-hamilton/you-don-t-need-ghosts-to-be-haunted-memory-does-that-just-fine/) [Laurell K. Hamilton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurell-k-hamilton/) > [“But the dead, they have ghosts. Ghosts are very useful for haunting. Never forget the dead, Tula. They have their function. They sometimes speak…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecil-castellucci/but-the-dead-they-have-ghosts-ghosts-are-very-useful-for-haunting/) [Cecil Castellucci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecil-castellucci/) > [Baseball is a game dominated by vital ghosts; it's a fraternity, like no other we have of the active and the no longer so,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-gilman/baseball-is-a-game-dominated-by-vital-ghosts-it-s-a-fraternity-like/) [Richard Gilman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-gilman/) > [Some ghosts tried to be showy. 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Mists gather here,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dodie-smith/they-call-them-the-haunted-shores-these-stretches-of-devonshire-and/) [Dodie Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dodie-smith/) > [“I assure you; while I look like a ghost, I'm no spirit or demon. I'm nothing but a girl struggling to make her way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leanna-renee-hieber/i-assure-you-while-i-look-like-a-ghost-i-m-no-spirit-or-demon-i-m/) [Leanna Renee Hieber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leanna-renee-hieber/) > [Do I believe in ghosts?...I am prepared to consider evidence and accept it if it satisfies me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-r-james/do-i-believe-in-ghosts-i-am-prepared-to-consider-evidence-and-accept/) [M. R. James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-r-james/) > [Nice is a city of ghosts and specters, but I hope not to become one of them right away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-modiano/nice-is-a-city-of-ghosts-and-specters-but-i-hope-not-to-become-one-of/) [Patrick Modiano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-modiano/) > [Cinema plus Psychoanalysis equals the Science of Ghosts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-derrida/cinema-plus-psychoanalysis-equals-the-science-of-ghosts/) [Jacques Derrida](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-derrida/) ## More by William Gibson > [“We have no idea, now, of who or what the inhabitants of our future might be. In that sense, we have no future. Not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/we-have-no-idea-now-of-who-or-what-the-inhabitants-of-our-future/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [For me, the melancholy of the late XXth Century is walking late at night by the Mont Blanc pen store and seeing these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/for-me-the-melancholy-of-the-late-xxth-century-is-walking-late-at/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“No," said Blackwell, "she won't, because that would be a violation of the very personal terms I will have established in our conversation. That's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/no-said-blackwell-she-won-t-because-that-would-be-a-violation-of-the/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Music was strange that way though; there were people into any damned thing, it seemed like, and if you got enough of them together…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/music-was-strange-that-way-though-there-were-people-into-any-damned/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [When I start writing a new imaginary future, I have no idea what it is. The characters arrive first. They help me figure out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-i-start-writing-a-new-imaginary-future-i-have-no-idea-what-it-is/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Hollis thought he looked like William Burroughs, minus the bohemian substrate (or perhaps the methadone). Like someone who'd be invited quail shooting with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/hollis-thought-he-looked-like-william-burroughs-minus-the-bohemian/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [Fiction is an illusion wrought with many small, conventionally symbolic marks, triggering visions in the minds of others](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/fiction-is-an-illusion-wrought-with-many-small-conventionally/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [The experience of celebrity is gradually being democratized.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/the-experience-of-celebrity-is-gradually-being-democratized/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [I don't generate a storyline and then fill it out in the course of writing. The story actually generates in the course of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/i-don-t-generate-a-storyline-and-then-fill-it-out-in-the-course-of/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“What happened to your arm?" she asked me one night in the Gentleman Loser, the three of us drinking at a small table in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/what-happened-to-your-arm-she-asked-me-one-night-in-the-gentleman/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“In Heathrow a vast chunk of memory detached itself from a blank bowl of airport sky and fell on him. He vomited into a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/in-heathrow-a-vast-chunk-of-memory-detached-itself-from-a-blank-bowl/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/and-for-an-instant-she-stared-directly-into-those-soft-blue-eyes-and/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [ \[When\] Johnny Mnemonic was coming out and I realized that all the kids that worked in 7-11 knew more - or thought they knew… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/when-johnny-mnemonic-was-coming-out-and-i-realized-that-all-the-kids/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Andrea maintained that men like Alain lied so constantly, so passionately, that some basic distinction had been lost. They were artists in their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/andrea-maintained-that-men-like-alain-lied-so-constantly-so/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) > [“Because he had a good agent, he had a good contract. Because he had a good contract, he was in Singapore an hour after…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/because-he-had-a-good-agent-he-had-a-good-contract-because-he-had-a/) [William Gibson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) [Explore all 430 William Gibson quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/) ## More Capricious quotes > [Not to be offensive, not to be capricious, not to be arbitrary, not to be neurotic, not to be an actor outer, you're just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-hurt/not-to-be-offensive-not-to-be-capricious-not-to-be-arbitrary-not-to/) [William Hurt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-hurt/) > [How dare you? How dare you create a world in which there is such misery that is not our fault? It's not right, it's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-fry/how-dare-you-how-dare-you-create-a-world-in-which-there-is-such/) [Stephen Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-fry/) > [O Logic: born gatekeeper to the Temple of Science, victim of capricious destiny: doomed hitherto to be the drudge of pedants: come to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeremy-bentham/o-logic-born-gatekeeper-to-the-temple-of-science-victim-of-capricious/) [Jeremy Bentham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeremy-bentham/) > [Huamns, uregulated, are cruel and capricious; violet and selfish; miserable and quarrelsome. It is only after their instincts and basic emotions have been controlled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-oliver/huamns-uregulated-are-cruel-and-capricious-violet-and-selfish/) [Lauren Oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-oliver/) > [Any test that turns on what is offensive to the community's standards is too loose, too capricious, too destructive of freedom of expression to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-o-douglas/any-test-that-turns-on-what-is-offensive-to-the-community-s-standards/) [William O. Douglas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-o-douglas/) > [Capricious, wanton, bold, and brutal Lust Is meanly selfish; when resisted, cruel; And, like the blast of Pestilential Winds, Taints the sweet bloom of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-milton/capricious-wanton-bold-and-brutal-lust-is-meanly-selfish-when/) [John Milton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-milton/) > [The Greeks understood perfectly that if there were divine beings they are capricious, unkind, malicious mostly, temperamental, envious and mostly deeply unpleasant because that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-fry/the-greeks-understood-perfectly-that-if-there-were-divine-beings-they/) [Stephen Fry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-fry/) > [Like many air travelers, I am aware that airplanes fly aided by capricious fairies and invisible strings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-maarten-troost/like-many-air-travelers-i-am-aware-that-airplanes-fly-aided-by/) [J. Maarten Troost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-maarten-troost/) > [When you die, you are extinguished. From being you will be transformed to non-being. A god does not necessarily dwell among our capricious atoms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ingmar-bergman/when-you-die-you-are-extinguished-from-being-you-will-be-transformed/) [Ingmar Bergman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ingmar-bergman/) > [Society is capricious and rewards the bad as often as the good. But it never rewards the quiet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-quinn/society-is-capricious-and-rewards-the-bad-as-often-as-the-good-but-it/) [Julia Quinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-quinn/) > [Einstein repeatedly argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/einstein-repeatedly-argued-that-there-must-be-simplified-explanations/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [For many people, God is a frightening idea. Asking God for help doesn't seem very comforting if we think of Him as something outside…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/for-many-people-god-is-a-frightening-idea-asking-god-for-help-doesn-t/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [Evolution is, as well as smarter than we are, infinitely more callous and cruel, and also capricious.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/evolution-is-as-well-as-smarter-than-we-are-infinitely-more-callous/) [Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/) > [A man who has cured himself of all ridiculous prepossessions, and is fully, sincerely, and steadily convinced, from experience as well as philosophy, that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/a-man-who-has-cured-himself-of-all-ridiculous-prepossessions-and-is/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [Unconsciously, I fell in love with the small round sphere, with its amusing and capricious rebounds which sometimes play with me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fabien-barthez/unconsciously-i-fell-in-love-with-the-small-round-sphere-with-its/) [Fabien Barthez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fabien-barthez/) [Browse all 124 Capricious quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capricious/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Ghosts are nothing if not capricious.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "William Gibson" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Capricious" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/william-gibson-642_capricious_ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious-130_1303788.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/william-gibson-642_capricious_ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious-130_1303788.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/977/william-gibson-642_capricious_ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious-130_1303788.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Ghosts are nothing if not capricious.” — William Gibson", "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 Gibson", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gibson/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Ghosts are nothing if not capricious.”", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gibson/ghosts-are-nothing-if-not-capricious/#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 } } ] } ```