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Quote by Cormac McCarthy

“She looked away. You make it like it was the coin. But you're the one. It could have gone either way. The coin didnt have no say. It was just you. Perhaps. But look at it my way. I got here the same way the coin did. She sat sobbing softly. She didnt answer. For things at a common destination there is a common path. Not always easy to see. But there. Everthing I ever thought has turned out different, she said. There aint the least part of my life I could of guessed. Not this, not none of it. I know. You wouldnt of let me off noway. I had no say in the matter. Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line can be erased. I had no belief in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A person's path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning.”

Quote by Cormac McCarthy

Work

No Country for Old Men

Cormac McCarthy's novel is a haunting exploration of fate, conscience, and the moral decay of a society. The story follows a man who stumbles upon a large sum of money and becomes entangled in a dangerous chase across the desert. As the line between good and evil blurs, the protagonist is forced to confront the harsh realities of a world where the old ways no longer apply. more

Author

Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy

American novelist known for his profound literary style and rich imagination. His notable works include 'The Border Trilogy' and 'No Country for Old Men'. more

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“Greek thought, as Russell states, is full of fate. It can, of course, be argued that these sentiments are the expressions of an archaic culture or world view which died two thousand years ago, prolonged through the medieval epoch because of ignorance of the natural universe, and that we know better now. In one sense this is true, but one of the more important and disturbing insights of depth psychology is the revelation that the mythic and undifferentiated consciousness of our ancestors, which animated the natural world with images of gods and daimones, does not belong to chronological history alone. It also belongs to the psyche of modern man, and represents a stratum which, although layered over by increasing consciousness and the hyper-rationality of the last two centuries, is as potent as it was two millennia or even ten millennia ago.”

“An action carried out through human effort may be well planned, well performed and properly accomplished, and yet be thwarted by fate. But likewise a fated action, something not carried out by humans, may be frustrated by human effort, heir of Bharata, as happens with cold and heat, rain, hunger and thirst. And a man whose being is constrained by fate may none the less opt to carry out some different action, and fate does not prevent him from doing so.”

“I now memorize ancient poems from my mother's books. I reread the romantic stories and never tire of them. They are terrible stories, terribly written, yet they are about fate, a kinder fate that unites one with her lover despite hardships and improbability—and they never fail to give me a momentary hope, as they must have given my mother years ago, as if all will be well in the end.”