"Though men determine, the gods doo dispose: and oft times many things fall out betweene the cup and the lip"
About this Quote
Control is the fantasy; contingency is the punchline. Greene’s line, with its heavy, almost legal rhythm, stages a tug-of-war between human plotting and the old, humiliating truth that outcomes belong to forces outside the room. “Men determine” flatters the ego with agency, then “the gods doo dispose” yanks the steering wheel back to Providence, Fate, or simply bad luck with a mythic mask. The wit is in the balance: he grants intention its due, then demotes it to a first draft.
The second clause sharpens the knife. “Oft times many things fall out betweene the cup and the lip” turns a domestic, bodily moment into a philosophy of disaster. You’re close enough to taste success, and that’s exactly when the universe gets inventive. The proverb’s appeal is its intimacy: it isn’t about distant storms or abstract tragedy, but the small gap where plans are most vulnerable, where confidence becomes complacency.
Greene wrote in an Elizabethan culture steeped in moral causality and theatrical reversal: a world where sermons, plague cycles, and court politics all taught that tomorrow is not promised, and a misstep can be destiny. As a playwright, he’s also defending drama’s engine. If life reliably honored intention, you wouldn’t need acts two through five. The line signals to an audience trained on providential plots that the real suspense isn’t whether characters want something, but what unseen hand will edit their wanting into ruin, irony, or belated wisdom.
The second clause sharpens the knife. “Oft times many things fall out betweene the cup and the lip” turns a domestic, bodily moment into a philosophy of disaster. You’re close enough to taste success, and that’s exactly when the universe gets inventive. The proverb’s appeal is its intimacy: it isn’t about distant storms or abstract tragedy, but the small gap where plans are most vulnerable, where confidence becomes complacency.
Greene wrote in an Elizabethan culture steeped in moral causality and theatrical reversal: a world where sermons, plague cycles, and court politics all taught that tomorrow is not promised, and a misstep can be destiny. As a playwright, he’s also defending drama’s engine. If life reliably honored intention, you wouldn’t need acts two through five. The line signals to an audience trained on providential plots that the real suspense isn’t whether characters want something, but what unseen hand will edit their wanting into ruin, irony, or belated wisdom.
Quote Details
| Topic | Free Will & Fate |
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