"He who looks in the crystal ball ends up eating glass... They're way, way close"
About this Quote
The sly twist is the second sentence: “They’re way, way close.” It’s a comic misdirection that reveals the machinery behind the metaphor. She’s basically saying: don’t treat forecasting like some lofty act of insight; it’s a rigged stunt where the prop and the punishment are nearly the same object. Crystal and glass are cousins. The distance between “visionary” and “hack” is thinner than people admit, and the same person can be both depending on the news cycle.
As a celebrity political operator, Matalin’s intent isn’t philosophical; it’s tactical. She’s poking at the pundit class while also insulating herself from its usual trap: the demand to be definitive. The subtext is reputational self-defense in an ecosystem that archives everything and forgives little. Predict if you must, she warns, but don’t fall in love with your own prophecy.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Matalin, Mary. (2026, January 16). He who looks in the crystal ball ends up eating glass... They're way, way close. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/he-who-looks-in-the-crystal-ball-ends-up-eating-104538/
Chicago Style
Matalin, Mary. "He who looks in the crystal ball ends up eating glass... They're way, way close." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/he-who-looks-in-the-crystal-ball-ends-up-eating-104538/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"He who looks in the crystal ball ends up eating glass... They're way, way close." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/he-who-looks-in-the-crystal-ball-ends-up-eating-104538/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2026.










