Arthur Golden Quotes

There's a deep underlying unpredictability to life that is thrilling. In China, my wife would say you go out to buy toilet paper, and you come back, and something interesting or revealing or funny happened on the way.

Pinchas Perry, the director of 'The Chicago 8,' offered me the role of the judge, and he did not know that, 35 years earlier, I'd played a judge in the theater production. So life has its own little twists and turns.

Nearly all the best things that came to me in life have been unexpected, unplanned by me.

Good things happen when you meet strangers.

Not by appointment do we meet delight Or joy; they heed not our expectancy; But round some corner of the streets of life they of a sudden greet us with a smile.

You always end up getting involved in things because of, you know, the strange things your life brings you into contact with.

I'm always interested in the moment when lives somehow accidentally cross. I think sometimes those accidental meetings can be small miracles; they can really change one's perspective on that moment and on life.

What unlooked-for things do happen, to be sure, in a long life!

You must know that in any moment a decision you make can change the course of your life forever, the very next person who you stand behind in line or sit next to on an aeroplane, the very next phone call you make or receive, the very next movie you see or book you read or page you turn could be the one single thing that causes the floodgates to open, and all of the things that you've been waiting for to fall into place.

Unexpected wonders happen, not on schedule, or when you expect or want them to happen, but if you keep hanging around, they do happen.

The point is to stumble upon things in your life, and not plan them out.

Life itself is so surprising, a predictable story is unsatisfying.

If you look at a great city, one of its amazing features is that you're going to find all sorts of things that you might not specifically have chosen in advance. And they will change your day. Maybe your month. Maybe your whole life.

I feel like some of the best roles that I've gotten to play I could've never preconceived. These things happen to you in an unexpected fashion, so it's hard to pre-imagine what that would be because some of the best opportunities I've had I could've never anticipated or expected.

I guess if you live long enough, anything can happen.

As much as you try to organize your life, life will surprise you.

The reason that I met my wife was because the lockout of '99. There were about six months where there was no film and no work and I had a social life.

I think that's a universal theme, you know: we don't know who we're going to meet tomorrow. And that person might change your life entirely. There's always that possibility, and while you're not necessarily actively seeking it, you have that desire deep down.

They say it can all change with one song, and in my case, that rings very true, I was shocked that it happened this quickly.

I always considered myself a songwriter, but I didn't move to New York with plans of doing that; it just sort of happened. Everyone thinks that I moved to New York strictly to play music, but I totally just happened to fall into playing with Woods, and it all got started from there. I just went to New York to hang out.

My life has been a series of slightly happy accidents.

Some people are born to trains, and some have trains thrust upon them. Fortunately, I can be included in this latter category.

Sometimes, things just fall into your lap, and that's pretty incredible.

The impossible lives next door to the possible; people ring its door bell by accident all the time.

I think something wonderful is going to happen to me. Maybe tomorrow. The phone can ring and your whole life can change.