# Quotes about chaos - Quotes: 47 - Authors: 36 - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos - JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.json ## Quotes > I like it that order exists somewhere even if it shatters near me. (p242) [Elizabeth Moon](https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-moon.md) · [The Speed of Dark](https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-moon/the-speed-of-dark.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/elizabeth-moon/the-speed-of-dark/i-like-it-that.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > To find order in chaos - why, of course; that was what he'd wanted all his life. > > He had been born for this, for finding order in chaos, and all the wasted years has been a mistake. > > To find order in chaos; to find order in chaos. [Richard Yates](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates.md) · [Disturbing the Peace](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/disturbing-the-peace.md) · p. 130 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/richard-yates/disturbing-the-peace/to-find-order.md) Topics: [meaning of life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > The world is mediocre. About that there is no mistake. Well then, has the world been mediocre since time immemorial? No. In the beginning, the world was chaos, and chaos is not mediocre. The mediocratization began when people separated the means of production from daily life. [Haruki Murakami](https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami.md) · [A Wild Sheep Chase](https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/a-wild-sheep-chase.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/haruki-murakami/a-wild-sheep-chase/the-world-is-mediocre.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md), [mediocrity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/mediocrity.md) > Two dangers threaten the world—order and disorder. [John Allen Paulos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos.md) · [A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper.md) · p. 123 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-allen-paulos/a-mathematician-reads-the-newspaper/two-dangers-threaten.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > What did you expect? the core asked me. No, I asked that of myself. Another projection. My desperation to ascribe personality and will to capricious outcomes of chaos. The true kings of the world, elements and particles, had no agenda except movement. [Jaroslav Kalfar](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jaroslav-kalfar.md) · [Spaceman of Bohemia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jaroslav-kalfar/spaceman-of-bohemia.md) · p. 152 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jaroslav-kalfar/spaceman-of-bohemia/what-did-you.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > It was a dramatization of total chaos, a functional definition of confusion, an unchoreographed dance of sad violence. It was war. [Dan Simmons](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons.md) · [The Fall of Hyperion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-fall-of-hyperion.md) · p. 51 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/dan-simmons/the-fall-of-hyperion/it-was-a-dramatization.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > We require routine and tradition. That’s order. Order can become excessive, and that’s not good, but chaos can swamp us, so we drown—and that is also not good. We need to stay on the straight and narrow path. [Jordan B. Peterson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jordan-b-peterson.md) · [12 Rules for Life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jordan-b-peterson/12-rules-for-life.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jordan-b-peterson/12-rules-for-life/we-require-routine.md) Topics: [tradition](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tradition.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Chaos was a far subtler force than most people realised. It would be so easy to sense if it threw off thunderbolts or sent barely sensed thrummings through the fabric of reality, but it was nothing more than the possible made probable. It did not break or bend any laws of nature or tip the balance of the universe. [Karen Lord](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-lord.md) · [Redemption in Indigo](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-lord/redemption-in-indigo.md) · p. 64 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/karen-lord/redemption-in-indigo/chaos-was-a-far.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > She knew that life was but a long struggle against disorder, and that disorder was the inevitable winner. [Tad Williams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams.md) · [Stone of Farewell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/stone-of-farewell.md) · p. 211 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/stone-of-farewell/she-knew-that.md) Topics: [life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Empires were like seawalls, he thought sadly, even those which embodied the best of hopes. The tide of chaos beat at them, and as soon as no one was shoring up the stones any more... [Tad Williams](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams.md) · [To Green Angel Tower](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/to-green-angel-tower.md) · p. 150 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/tad-williams/to-green-angel-tower/empires-were-like.md) Topics: [civilization](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/civilization.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > I was reading of chaos that contained order; of information as the primal, creative force; of systems that, by design, fell apart so they could renew themselves; and of invisible forces that structured space and held complex things together. These were compelling, evocative ideas, and they gave me hope, even if they did not reveal immediate solutions. [Margaret J. Wheatley](https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-j-wheatley.md) · [Leadership and the New Science](https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-j-wheatley/leadership-and-the-new-science.md) · p. 2 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/margaret-j-wheatley/leadership-and-the-new-science/i-was-reading.md) Topics: [hope](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hope.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > We Russians have learned to fear anarchy above all else. We would rather have tyranny than it. Hanno, you do wrong to look on people’s republics, strong governments of every kind, as always evil. Freedom is perhaps better, but chaos is worse. [Poul Anderson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson.md) · [The Boat of a Million Years](https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years.md) · p. 396 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/poul-anderson/the-boat-of-a-million-years/we-russians-have.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [tyranny](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/tyranny.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > We live so much of our lives in chaos. Human history can be viewed as an endless search for greater order: everything from language to religion to law to science tries to impose a framework on chaotic existence. The existentialists, sometimes wrongly described as disbelieving in an underlying order, saw the risks and the foolishness of the obsession with creating one. Hitler showed the risk, as did any number of populist tyrants before him. I teach my students that law, too, shows the risk, when we try to regulate a phenomenon—human behavior—that we do not even understand. I am not arguing against law...but against the Panglossian assumption that we can ever do law particularly well. The darkness in which we live dooms us to do it badly. [Stephen L. Carter](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-l-carter.md) · [The Emperor of Ocean Park](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-l-carter/the-emperor-of-ocean-park.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/stephen-l-carter/the-emperor-of-ocean-park/we-live-so-much.md) Topics: [law](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > And the mind that has conceived a plan of living must never lose sight of the chaos against which that pattern was conceived. That goes for societies as well as for individuals. [Ralph Ellison](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison.md) · [Invisible Man](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/and-the-mind.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md), [plans](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/plans.md) > Anarchy, in its own nature, is an evil of short duration. The more horrible are the mischiefs it inflicts, the more does it hasten to a close. [William Godwin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin.md) · [Enquiry Concerning Political Justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/william-godwin/enquiry-concerning-political-justice/anarchy-in-its.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > The Greeks believed that true beauty (as opposed to mere prettiness) was the offspring of these two opposing tendencies, which they personified in Apollo and Dionysus, their two gods of art. Great art is born when Apollonian form and Dionysian ecstasy are held in balance, when our dreams of order and abandon come together. One tendency uninformed by the other can bring forth only coldness or chaos—the stiffness of a Triumph tulip, the slackness of a wild rose. [Michael Pollan](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-pollan.md) · [The Botany of Desire](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-pollan/the-botany-of-desire.md) · p. 106 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-pollan/the-botany-of-desire/the-greeks-believed.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [beauty](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beauty.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > 'Why should you do a job anyway? What's the incentive?' > > 'The incentive is to fight anarchy. That's all Man lives for. Reclaiming life from its natural muddle. Making patterns.' > > 'Patterns for what?' > > 'For the sake of patterns. To create meaning. What else is there?' > > 'And what about the things that won't fit into your patterns?' > > 'Discard them.' [Christopher Isherwood](https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-isherwood.md) · [Prater Violet](https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-isherwood/prater-violet.md) · p. 55 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/christopher-isherwood/prater-violet/why-should-you.md) Topics: [meaning of life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > In turbulence is the preservation of the world. [Kevin Kelly](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kevin-kelly.md) · [Out Of Control](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kevin-kelly/out-of-control.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kevin-kelly/out-of-control/in-turbulence-is-the.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Order did not want to be born; chaos wasn’t ready to die. [Harry Turtledove](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove.md) · [Settling Accounts: In at the Death](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-in-at-the-death.md) · p. 353 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/harry-turtledove/settling-accounts-in-at-the-death/order-did-not.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > But we have soothed ourselves into imagining sudden change as something that happens outside the normal order of things. An accident, like a car crash. Or beyond our control, like a fatal illness. We do not conceive of sudden, radical, irrational change as built into the very fabric of existence. Yet it is. [Michael Crichton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton.md) · [Jurassic Park](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/jurassic-park.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/jurassic-park/but-we-have.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > "You're going to engineer a bunch of prehistoric animals and set them on an island? Fine. A lovely dream. Charming. But it won't go as planned. It is inherently unpredictable, just as the weather is." [Michael Crichton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton.md) · [Jurassic Park](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/jurassic-park.md) · p. 178 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-crichton/jurassic-park/youre-going-to-engineer.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > I wanted to give up the idea I had any control. Shake things up. To be saved by chaos. To see if I could cope, I wanted to force myself to grow again. To explode my comfort zone. [Chuck Palahniuk](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk.md) · [Invisible Monsters](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/invisible-monsters.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/invisible-monsters/i-wanted-to-give.md) Topics: [change](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/change.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Our real discoveries come from chaos. [Chuck Palahniuk](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk.md) · [Invisible Monsters](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/invisible-monsters.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/invisible-monsters/our-real-discoveries.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > It is not enough to accept a concept of order and live by it; that is cowardice, and such cowardice cannot result from freedom. Chaos must be faced. Real order must be preceded by a descent into chaos. [Colin Wilson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson.md) · [The Outsider](https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson/the-outsider.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/colin-wilson/the-outsider/it-is-not.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > An artists job is to make order out of chaos. You collect details, look for a pattern, and organize. You make sense out of senseless facts. You puzzle together bits of everything. You shuffle and reorganize. Collage. Montage. Assemble. [Chuck Palahniuk](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk.md) · [Diary](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/diary.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/diary/an-artists-job.md) Topics: [art](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/art.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > The imagination is the power that enables us to perceive the normal in the abnormal, the opposite of chaos in chaos. [Wallace Stevens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens.md) · [The Necessary Angel](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/the-necessary-angel.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/wallace-stevens/the-necessary-angel/the-imagination-is-the.md) Topics: [imagination](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/imagination.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Vishnu, in his wisdom, had seen that there must be a balance between the metropolis and the wilderness. While wilderness can exist independent of cities, that which dwells within a city requires more than the tamed plants of a pleasance. If the world were all city, he had reasoned, the dwellers within it would turn a portion of it into a wilderness, for there is that within them all which desires that somewhere there be an end to order and a beginning of chaos. So, within his mind there had grown up a forest, pumping forth streams and the smells of growth and decay, uttering the cries of the uncitied creatures who dwelled within its shadows, shrugging in the wind and glistening in the rain, falling down and growing up again. [Roger Zelazny](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny.md) · [Lord of Light](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/roger-zelazny/lord-of-light/vishnu-in-his.md) Topics: [nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md), [cities](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/cities.md) > Chaos delights in creation but swiftly becomes bored with what it creates for it seeks not order or justice or constancy but sensation, entertainment. Sometimes it suits it to create something which you and I would value or find pleasure in. But it is an accident. [Michael Moorcock](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock.md) · [The King of the Swords](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-king-of-the-swords.md) · p. 320 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-king-of-the-swords/chaos-delights-in-creation.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Ultimately, Chaos brings a more profound stagnation than anything it despises in law. It must forever seek more and more sensation, more and more empty marvels, until there is nothing left and it has forgotten what true invention is. [Michael Moorcock](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock.md) · [The Queen of the Swords](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-queen-of-the-swords.md) · p. 197 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-queen-of-the-swords/ultimately-chaos-brings.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Everything may exist for a short while—even justice. But the true state of the universe is anarchy. It is the mortal’s tragedy that he can never accept this. [Michael Moorcock](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock.md) · [The Knight of the Swords](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-knight-of-the-swords.md) · p. 139 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-knight-of-the-swords/everything-may-exist.md) Topics: [justice](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/justice.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > “Chaos has her moods and whims, that’s all. As I told you, she cannot remain stable. It is in her nature to be forever changing.” > > “While it is in the nature of Law,” Alisaard explained, “to be forever fixed. The Balance is there to ensure that neither Law nor Chaos ever gain complete ascendancy, for the one offers sterility while the other offers only sensation.” [Michael Moorcock](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock.md) · [The Dragon in the Sword](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-dragon-in-the-sword.md) · p. 626 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/the-dragon-in-the-sword/chaos-has-her.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Nothing is known for certain, Isarda. All knowledge is illusion—purpose is a meaningless word, a mere sound, a reassuring fragment of melody in a cacophony of clashing chords. All is flux—matter is like these jewels. (She throws a handful of gleaming gems upon the golden surface; they scatter. When the last jewel has ceased to move, she looks up at him.) Sometimes they fall into a rough pattern, usually they do not. So as this moment, a pattern has been formed—you and I stand here speaking. But at any moment that which constitutes our beings may be scattered again. [Michael Moorcock](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock.md) · [Phoenix in Obsidian](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/phoenix-in-obsidian.md) · p. 321 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/michael-moorcock/phoenix-in-obsidian/nothing-is-known.md) Topics: [knowledge](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/knowledge.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > “In this random, chaotic world, filled with apes and demigods and all in between, where mass murder and assassination is the past time of the hour, where any structure you cling to may topple in a moment, where a City of a Thousand Suns may be destroyed by a machine commanded by the psychosis of an empire and beauty doubts itself as insanity gorged on death—and I am free”—again he drew in his breath—“what am I free to do? You tell me what I am free to do!” [Samuel R. Delany](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany.md) · [City of a Thousand Suns](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/city-of-a-thousand-suns.md) · p. 391 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/samuel-r-delany/city-of-a-thousand-suns/in-this-random.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > "The rare, strange thing is to hit the mark; the gross, obvious thing is to miss it. We feel it is epical when man with one wild arrow strikes a distant bird. Is it not also epical when man with one wild engine strikes a distant station? Chaos is dull; because in chaos the train might indeed go anywhere, to Baker Street, or to Bagdad. But man is a magician, and his whole magic is in this, that he does say Victoria, and lo! it is Victoria." [G. Chesterton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton.md) · [The Man Who Was Thursday](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/g-chesterton/the-man-who-was-thursday/the-rare-strange.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > You need to try to do the impossible, to anticipate the unexpected. And when the unexpected happens, you should double the efforts to make order from the disorder it creates in your life. The motto I'm advocating is — Let chaos reign, then rein in chaos. Does that mean that you shouldn't plan? Not at all. You need to plan the way a fire department plans. It cannot anticipate fires, so it has to shape a flexible organization that is capable of responding to unpredictable events. [Andrew S. Grove](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrew-s-grove.md) · [High Output Management](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrew-s-grove/high-output-management.md) · p. 229 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrew-s-grove/high-output-management/you-need-to-try.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md), [plans](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/plans.md) > Without access to true chaos we'll never have true peace. [Chuck Palahniuk](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk.md) · [Choke](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/choke.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/chuck-palahniuk/choke/without-access-to-true.md) Topics: [peace](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/peace.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Chaos needs no allies, for it dwells like a poison in every one of us. [Steven Erikson](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-erikson.md) · [Midnight Tides](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-erikson/midnight-tides.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/steven-erikson/midnight-tides/chaos-needs-no-allies.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > It used to be thought that the events that changed the world were things like big bombs, maniac politicians, huge earthquakes, or vast population movements, but it has now been realized that this is a very old-fashioned view held by people totally out of touch with modern thought. The things that really change the world, according to Chaos theory, are the tiny things. A butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian jungle, and subsequently a storm ravages half of Europe. > > Somewhere in Adam's sleeping head, a butterfly had emerged. [Neil Gaiman](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman.md) · [Good Omens](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/neil-gaiman/good-omens/it-used-to-be-thought.md) Topics: [chance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chance.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > I thought Beatrice Keedsler had joined hands with other old-fashioned storytellers to make people believe that life had leading characters, minor characters, significant details, insignificant details, that it had lessons to be learned, tests to be passed, and a beginning, a middle, and an end.As I approached my fiftieth birthday, I had become more and more enraged and mystified by the idiot decisions made by my countrymen. And then I had come suddenly to pity them, for I understood how innocent and natural it was for them to behave so abominably, and with such abominable results: They were doing their best to live like people invented in story books. This was the reason Americans shot each other so often: It was a convenient literary device for ending short stories and books.Why were so many Americans treated by their government as though their lives were as disposable as paper facial tissues? Because that was the way authors customarily treated bit-part players in their madeup tales.And so on.Once I understood what was making America such a dangerous, unhappy nation of people who had nothing to do with real life, I resolved to shun storytelling. I would write about life. Every person would be exactly as important as any other. All facts would also be given equal weightiness. Nothing would be left out. Let others bring order to chaos. I would bring chaos to order, instead, which I think I have done.If all writers would do that, then perhaps citizens not in the literary trades will understand that there is no order in the world around us, that we must adapt ourselves to the requirements of chaos instead.It is hard to adapt to chaos, but it can be done. I am living proof of that: It can be done. [Kurt Vonnegut](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut.md) · [Breakfast of Champions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/breakfast-of-champions.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kurt-vonnegut/breakfast-of-champions/i-thought-beatrice.md) Topics: [America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md), [storytelling](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/storytelling.md) > The fragile wants tranquility, the antifragile grows from disorder, and the robust doesn't care too much. [Nassim Nicholas Taleb](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb.md) · [Antifragile](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/antifragile.md) · p. 20 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/nassim-nicholas-taleb/antifragile/the-fragile-wants.md) Topics: [strength](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/strength.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > We, when we sow the seeds of doubt deeper than the most up-to-date and modish free-thought has ever dreamed of doing, we well know what we are about. Only out of radical skepsis, out of moral chaos, can the Absolute spring, the anointed Terror of which the time has need. [Thomas Mann](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann.md) · [The Magic Mountain](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann/the-magic-mountain.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/thomas-mann/the-magic-mountain/we-when-we-sow.md) Topics: [doubt](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/doubt.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > The fear of death in the one place was not as strong as another kind of fear, the fear of a world gone crazy, a place where anything could happen, where nothing could be trusted, where nothing was certain. A terrible place. [Orson Scott Card](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card.md) · [Red Prophet](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/red-prophet.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/orson-scott-card/red-prophet/the-fear-of-death.md) Topics: [fear](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/fear.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method. [Herman Melville](https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville.md) · [Moby-Dick](https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick.md) · p. 402 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/herman-melville/moby-dick/there-are-some.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Chaos is rejecting all you have learned. Chaos is being yourself. [Emil Cioran](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran.md) · [A Short History of Decay](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/emil-cioran/a-short-history-of-decay/chaos-is-rejecting.md) Topics: [identity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > Came not all hell broke loose? [John Milton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton.md) · [Paradise Lost](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/came-not-all.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md), [hell](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/hell.md) > Where eldest Night > > And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold > > Eternal anarchy amidst the noise > > Of endless wars, and by confusion stand; > > For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce, > > Strive here for mast'ry. [John Milton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton.md) · [Paradise Lost](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/where-eldest-night.md) Topics: [war](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/war.md), [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md) > With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, > > Confusion worse confounded. [John Milton](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton.md) · [Paradise Lost](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-milton/paradise-lost/with-ruin-upon.md) Topics: [chaos](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/chaos.md)