“History is often the tale of small moments—chance encounters or casual decisions or sheer coincidence—that seem of little consequence at the time, but somehow fuse with other small moments to produce something momentous, the proverbial flapping of a butterfly’s wings that triggers a hurricane.” LittlesMomentsSeemsChanceDecisionProduceConsequenceWingsTalesEncountersButterflySheerCoincidenceTriggersCasualHurricanesFuseProverbialFlappingSmall MomentsChance Encounters Book:Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East Source: Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East
“It is often interesting, in retrospect, to consider the trifling causes that lead to great events. A chance encounter, a thoughtless remark - and the tortuous chain reaction of coincidence is set in motion, leading with devious inevitability to some resounding climax.” CausesChanceInterestingEventsReactionsChainsEncountersCoincidenceRemarksInevitabilityRetrospectClimaxTriflingDeviousGreat EventsChain ReactionsChance Encounters Book:Down Among the Dead Men Source: Down Among the Dead Men
“Memory is a wonderfully useful tool, and without it judgement does its work with difficulty; it is entirely lacking in me.... Now,the more I distrust my memory, the more confused it becomes. It serves me better by chance encounter; I have to solicit it nonchalantly. For if I press it, it is stunned; and once it has begun to totter, the more I probe it, the more it gets mixed up and embarrassed. It serves me at its own time, not at mine.” IfsDoeSelfMemoriesChanceMinesJudgmentToolsDifficultyPressesJudgementConfusedEncountersLackingEmbarrassedDistrustStunnedChance Encounters Author:Michel de Montaigne