"I don't believe in karma"
About this Quote
“I don’t believe in karma” lands less like a metaphysical position than a refusal to let the universe be your publicist. Coming from Sandra Bernhard - a performer built on provocation, shrewd self-mythology, and the delicious abrasion of saying the quiet part out loud - it reads as a strategic rejection of the soft moral bookkeeping Americans love to outsource. Karma is the comforting idea that life is a fair narrative, that justice arrives on schedule, that you can be messy now because the cosmos will tidy up later. Bernhard yanks that safety rail.
The intent is blunt and a little theatrical: stop romanticizing consequences. She’s puncturing the wellness-adjacent optimism that turns ethics into a vibes-based rewards program. There’s also a performer’s realism in it. In show business, talent doesn’t guarantee outcomes; bad actors thrive; good people get passed over; “deserve” is not a currency anyone accepts. To say you don’t believe in karma is to admit you’ve seen randomness up close and refused to dress it up as destiny.
The subtext has bite: if there’s no cosmic enforcement, responsibility returns to human hands. Don’t wait for the universe to punish your enemies or validate your choices; do the hard, unglamorous work of boundaries, accountability, and repair. It also doubles as a defense against moral grandstanding. Without karma, you can’t frame your success as spiritual merit or your suffering as a lesson; you’re just a person in a chaotic system, making choices and living with what follows. That honesty is exactly Bernhard’s brand.
The intent is blunt and a little theatrical: stop romanticizing consequences. She’s puncturing the wellness-adjacent optimism that turns ethics into a vibes-based rewards program. There’s also a performer’s realism in it. In show business, talent doesn’t guarantee outcomes; bad actors thrive; good people get passed over; “deserve” is not a currency anyone accepts. To say you don’t believe in karma is to admit you’ve seen randomness up close and refused to dress it up as destiny.
The subtext has bite: if there’s no cosmic enforcement, responsibility returns to human hands. Don’t wait for the universe to punish your enemies or validate your choices; do the hard, unglamorous work of boundaries, accountability, and repair. It also doubles as a defense against moral grandstanding. Without karma, you can’t frame your success as spiritual merit or your suffering as a lesson; you’re just a person in a chaotic system, making choices and living with what follows. That honesty is exactly Bernhard’s brand.
Quote Details
| Topic | Free Will & Fate |
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