Unpredictability Quotes

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious Ambiguity.”
― Gilda Radner

“All human plans [are] subject to ruthless revision by Nature, or Fate, or whatever one preferred to call the powers behind the Universe.”
― Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two

“Life is like the oil within a lamp. It can be measured, but the pace at which it burns depends on how the dial is turned day by day, how bright and fierce the flame. And there is no predicting whether the lamp might be knocked to the ground and shatter, when it could have blazed on a great while longer. Such is the unpredictability of life.”
― Margaret Rogerson, Sorcery of Thorns

“In fiction: we find the predictable boring. In real life: we find the unpredictable terrifying.”
― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“It is our task, both in science and in society at large, to prove the conventional wisdom wrong and to make our unpredictable dreams come true”
― Freeman Dyson

“We live in a society and a culture and an economic model that tries to make everything look right. Look at computers. Why are they all putty-colored or off-fucking-white? You make something off-white or beige because you are afraid to use any other color – because you don’t want to offend anybody. But by definition, when you make something no one hates, no one loves it. So I am interested in imperfections, quirkiness, insanity, unpredictability. That’s what we really pay attention to anyway. We don’t talk about planes flying; we talk about them crashing.”
― Tibor Kalman

“One does not have to be a philosopher to be a successful artist, but he does have to be an artist to be a successful philosopher. His nature is to view the world in an unpredictable albeit useful light.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“But as de old folks always say, Ah'm born but Ah ain't dead. No tellin' whut Ah'm liable tuh do yet.”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

“The fatal misconception behind brainstorming is that there is a particular script we should all follow in group interactions.... [W]hen the composition of the group is right—enough people with different perspectives running into one another in unpredictable ways—the group dynamic will take care of itself. All these errant discussions add up. In fact, they may even be the most essential part of the creative process. Although such conversations will occasionally be unpleasant—not everyone is always in the mood for small talk or criticism—that doesn’t mean that they can be avoided. The most creative spaces are those which hurl us together. It is the human friction that makes the sparks.”
― Jonah Lehrer

“You can’t rely on modeling uncertainties to deliver certainty.”
― Roger Spitz, The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption: Volume I - Reframing and Navigating Disruption

“Foresight does not seek to predict, but to drive imagination to inform decision-making and the actions required today in light of the potential futures ahead. Foresight prepares you for the swerves.”
― Roger Spitz, The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption: Volume II - Essential Frameworks for Disruption and Uncertainty

“None of these were “Black Swans,” which is the “go to” taxonomy for C-suites and policymakers justifying their surprise in the face of the assumptions they made about the world, signals they chose to ignore, and preparation they decided to skimp on.”
― Roger Spitz, The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption: Volume II - Essential Frameworks for Disruption and Uncertainty

“Complexity flies in the face of what is merely complicated, imposing limitations to our understanding.”
― Roger Spitz, The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption: Volume IV - Disruption as a Springboard to Value Creation

“An artistic perspective will jab at you from a different angle; its logic comes like a pitcher with a curveball.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“Domino effects give way to butterfly effects given nonlinearity. “Outsized” conflates with “unpredictable” as a small cause yields disproportionate effects.”
― Roger Spitz, The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption: Volume IV - Disruption as a Springboard to Value Creation

“Scenarios are dynamic living narratives, and require updating as the world itself evolves.”
― Roger Spitz, The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption: Volume IV - Disruption as a Springboard to Value Creation

“The objective is not to get the future right. Rather, our work spurs better preparation for any of the futures which may arise.”
― Roger Spitz, The Definitive Guide to Thriving on Disruption: Volume II - Essential Frameworks for Disruption and Uncertainty

“Your opponent can observe and exploit any systematic pattern almost as easily as he can exploit an unchanging repetition of a single strategy. It is unpredictability that is important when mixing.”
― Avinash K. Dixit, The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life

“The wise could be counted on to do what was wise; there was no predicting the actions of a buffoon.”
― F.C. Yee, The Legacy of Yangchen

“Imagine a life without uncertainty. Hope, according to Aeschylus, comes from the lack of certainty of fate; perhaps hope is inherently blind. Imagine how dull life would be if variables assessed for admission to a professional school, graduate program, or executive training program really did predict with great accuracy who would succeed and who would fail. Life would be intolerable—no hope, no challenge.

Thus, we have a paradox. While we all strive to reduce the uncertainties of our existence and of the environment, ultimate success—that is, a total elimination of uncertainty—would be horrific.

Knowing pleasant outcomes with certainty would also detract from life’s joy. An essential part of knowledge is to shrink the domain of the unpredictable. But while we pursue this goal, its ultimate attainment would not be at all desirable.”
― Reid Hastie, Rational Choice in an Uncertain World: The Psychology of Judgement and Decision Making

“Later, I would come to think of those first days as a time when we learned as a species that we had worried over the wrong things: the hole in the ozone layer, the melting of the ice caps, the West Nile and swine flu and killer bees. But I guess it never is what you worry over that comes to pass in the end. The real catastrophes are always different - unimagined, unprepared for, unknown.”
― Karen Thompson Walker

“There are too many variables and uncertainties; too much in this world is either unpredictable or unlucky.”
― H.C. Roberts, Harp and the Lyre: Exposed

“...one consequence of this cognitive architecture is that when our predictive potential is limited –that is, when there is high uncertainty- we experience anxiety. Our predictive brain does not like unpredictability. This is where ritual comes in.”
― Dimitris Xygalatas, Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living

“When he pulled up the nets, they contained only one kind of fish– black pomfres, the flat diamonds of their bodies slick in the morning light. The uniformity did not surprise him; over the years, he'd learned that the waters here were temperamental. They could be relied upon for a good catch, but from time to time they threw up only praws or squid, and other times colorful varieties of fish that weren't even supposed to be found in this region. He'd grown to accept the unpredictability, embracing it as a game to be played, like the reading of tea leaves or the grooves of a palm (Heng 217).”
― Rachel Heng, The Great Reclamation

“~ Life, with all its twists and turns, is a testament to the unpredictable nature of existence. We may never fully understand the forces at play or the reasons behind our setbacks. Perhaps it's the whims of fate or the caprice of fortune. Regardless, we must acknowledge that perfection in action does not guarantee success. Time and chance happen to every man, and that our journey is defined not by the victories we achieve, but by the courage we display in the face of adversity. So let us take our chances, knowing that even in defeat, there lies the opportunity for growth and self-discovery.”
― Carson Anekeya

“Only the monsters down here were most definitely not nice, and trying to cuddle one would be dangerous, like kissing a piranha”
― Duncan Ralston, Where the Monsters Live

“Some folks are predictably unpredictable.”
― Frank Sonnenberg, BECOME: Unleash the Power of Moral Character and Be Proud of the Life You Choose

“Every country has its myths, and one that successful Indians liked to indulge was a romance of instability and adaptation—the idea that their country’s rapid rise derived in part from the chaotic unpredictability of daily life. […] In India, a land of few safe assumptions, chronic uncertainty was said to have helped produce a nation of quick-witted, creative problem-solvers. Among the poor, there was no doubt that instability fostered ingenuity, but over time the lack of a link between effort and result could become debilitating.”
― Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

“Cette plage aurait pu être une fin (en soi). Sauf qu'un copain m'a un jour écrit : « Rien n'est tracé dans la vie ».”
― Élodie Font, Coming In

“Imagine navigating uncharted waters with a compass calibrated for the unpredictable.”
― Roger Spitz, Disrupt With Impact: Achieve Business Success in an Unpredictable World