Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Debate over whether a mission was given or found. It questions destiny versus choice.
In plain terms
One person says a mission was given, another says it was found.
What can you take from it?
Mission comes from choice or destiny.

Where it applies

  • leadership
  • self-reflection
  • historical debate

Putting it to work

  • defining purpose
  • exploring agency
  • debating destiny

Questions to consider

  • Is your mission given or chosen?
  • How do you find your place?

Another view

Missions often involve both given and found elements.

More from Dave Eggers

  1. We cannot fathom why people would stand across the street, easily a hundred feet away, when they could be so close, near us. 'Suckers.' I tell Toph, thumbing t…

    Permalink to quote #9
  2. Hand took a breath and opened his palms, as if accepting the gift of rain. 'YOU SHALL KNOW OUR VELOCITY!' he bellowed into the cold exhausted city.

    Permalink to quote #11
  3. We're best at the long high throws. Like when you take four or five steps and rip it- It's almost like a shotput approach, the steps, four or five quick, one o…

    Permalink to quote #8

Related quotes

  1. You are as like the forming of God as ever people were... you are at the edge of promises and prophecies.

    Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell quote #28
  2. I feel as if I am being driven towards an unknown goal. As soon as it is attained and there will no longer be any use for me, an atom will be sufficient to ann…

    Napoleon BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte quote #96
  3. Somebody has to roll the dice. Mine are the hands that hold those dice. I'm not a bureaucrat, placing my career above the larger purposes I was put here to ser…

    Orson Scott CardOrson Scott Card quote #265