“In a world that operates largely at random, coincidences are to be expected, but any one of them must always be mistrusted.”

“It is absurd to expect the inclinations and wishes of two human beings to coincide, through any long period of time. To oblige them to act and live together is to subject them to some inevitable potion of thwarting, bickering, and unhappiness.”

“if a man would make his world large, he must be always making himself small.”

“... Nature almost surely operates by combining chance with necessity, randomness with determinism...”

“I mean that two of any thing is a most uncomfortable number. One may do as he pleases. Six may get along well enough. But two must always struggle for mastery. Two must always watch each other. The eyes of all the world will be on two, uncertain which of them to follow.”

“Events can seem random while you're living them, but when you look back, what do you see? A chain of coincidences? Plain old luck? Or something more?”