“When you choose one way out of many, all the ways you don't take are snuffed out like candles, as if they'd never existed.”

Source: His Dark Materials, The Amber Spyglass (2000), Ch. 2 : Balthamos and Baruch
Context: Will considered what to do. When you choose one way out of many, all the ways you don’t take are snuffed out like candles, as if they’d never existed. At the moment all Will’s choices existed at once. But to keep them all in existence meant doing nothing. He had to choose, after all.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "When you choose one way out of many, all the ways you don't take are snuffed out like candles, as if they'd never exist…" by Philip Pullman?
Philip Pullman photo
Philip Pullman 161
English author 1946

Related quotes

Philip Pullman photo
Malcolm Gladwell photo

“Insight is not a lightbulb that goes off inside our heads. It is a flickering candle that can easily be snuffed out.”

Source: Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Benjamin Franklin photo

“The Way to ſee by Faith is to ſhut the Eye of Reaſon: The Morning Daylight appears plainer when you put out your Candle.”

"July. VII Month.", Poor Richard's Almanack (1758), Philadelphia: B. Frankin and D. Hall
Poor Richard's Almanack

Sarah Dessen photo
Sarah Dessen photo

“There's always a way out. All you have to do is take it.”

Julie Anne Peters (1952) American writer

Source: By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead

Leigh Brackett photo
John Frusciante photo

“Dream that you died
It takes you out of your mind
The black walls of space
Take me all the way”

John Frusciante (1970) American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer

Wind Up Space
Lyrics, To Record Only Water for Ten Days (2000)

Jordan Peterson photo
Sophie Scholl photo

“Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”

Sophie Scholl (1921–1943) White Rose member

As quoted in O<sub>2</sub> : Breathing New Life Into Faith (2008) by Richard Dahlstrom, Ch. 4 : Artisans of Hope: Stepping into God's Kingdom Story, p. 63; this source is disputed as it does not cite an original document for the quote. It is also used in <i> The White Rose </i> (1991) by Lillian Garrett-Groag, a monologue during Sophie's interrogation.
Disputed
Context: The real damage is done by those millions who want to "survive." The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don't want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won't take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don't like to make waves — or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honor, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It's the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you'll keep it under control. If you don't make any noise, the bogeyman won't find you. But it's all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.

Related topics