“We are only puppets, our strings are being pulled by unknown forces.”
Act II.
Dantons Tod (Danton's Death) (1835)
“SOME PEOPLE BELIEVE IN FATE, OTHERS DON’T. I DO, and I don’t. It may seem at times as if invisible fingers move us about like puppets on strings. But for sure, we are not born to be dragged along. We can grab the strings ourselves and adjust our course at every crossroad, or take off at any little trail into the unknown.”
Source: Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft
Last update Sept. 25, 2021.
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Thor Heyerdahl 5
Norwegian anthropologist and adventurer 1914–2002Related quotes
Stanley Milgram
(1933–1984) Social psychologist
As quoted in The Social Dimensions Of Law And Justice In Contemporary India (1979) by V. R. Krishna Iyer
Context: It may be that we are puppets — puppets controlled by the strings of society. But at least we are puppets with perception, with awareness. And perhaps our awareness is the first step to our liberation. The fact that obedience is often a necessity in human society does not diminish our responsibility as citizens. Rather, it confers on us a special obligation to place in positions of authority those most likely to use it humanely. And people are inventive. The variety of political forms we have seen in history are only several of many possible political arrangements. Perhaps the next step is to invent and to explore political forms that will give conscience a better chance to resist errant authority.
Everett Dean Martin
(1880–1941)
Source: Are We Victims of Propaganda, Our Invisible Masters: A Debate with Edward Bernays (1929), p. 142
Roger Ebert
(1942–2013) American film critic, author, journalist, and TV presenter
Source: Life Itself : A Memoir (2011), Ch. 55 : Go Gently
Context: "Kindness" covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.
Source: Gardens of the Moon (1999), Chapter 4 (p. 124)
“We’re all puppets, Laurie. I’m just a puppet who can see the strings.”
Alan Moore
book
Watchmen
Source: Doctor Manhattan, in Watchmen #9 (referring to Doctor Manhattans's theory of time)
Joseph Polchinski
(1954–2018) physicist working on string theory
[String theory: Volume 2, superstring theory and beyond, Cambridge University press, 1998, https://books.google.com/books?id=WKatSc5pjOgC&pg=PA59] (page 59)
