"I started by looking at what others had done before me. You see, over the years there have been attempts by many different people to reconstruct the chariot"
About this Quote
The phrase "You see" is doing a lot of work. It nudges the reader closer, like a storyteller about to reveal the practical logic behind a seemingly romantic project. Williams is famous for making puzzles feel like quests; here he slips the mechanism into view. He wants the audience to trust the process: this isn’t whimsical cosplay of the ancient world, it’s a problem with a paper trail.
Then comes the key pivot: "over the years". Time is the hidden antagonist. Reconstruction is never a single act; it’s an ongoing argument between the present and the past, with every generation taking another swing. By invoking "many different people", he spreads authorship across a community and, pointedly, across failure. The subtext is that a chariot is less an object than a threshold - hard enough to build that it filters out dilettantes.
Contextually, it reads like Williams positioning himself inside a lineage of tinkerers, historians, and obsessives. He isn’t just making a chariot; he’s entering an old conversation and betting he can push it one step further.
Quote Details
| Topic | Knowledge |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Williams, Kit. (2026, January 17). I started by looking at what others had done before me. You see, over the years there have been attempts by many different people to reconstruct the chariot. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-started-by-looking-at-what-others-had-done-81030/
Chicago Style
Williams, Kit. "I started by looking at what others had done before me. You see, over the years there have been attempts by many different people to reconstruct the chariot." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-started-by-looking-at-what-others-had-done-81030/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I started by looking at what others had done before me. You see, over the years there have been attempts by many different people to reconstruct the chariot." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-started-by-looking-at-what-others-had-done-81030/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2026.





