I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

No Monroe-era source has been established for this paragraph. The earliest dated publication located in this run is Slippery Rock University’s 2008 volleyball media guide, p. 12, which gives it to Monroe without an underlying source. A dated August 2010 essay repeats it, and a 2012 psychology article uses it as an epigraph, again without a Monroe reference. Marijane Gray’s 2015 discussion at Immortal Marilyn specifically reports that no source material has been found for it. This run checked the full Richard Meryman interview transcription and the authorized Guardian reprint for the distinctive phrases everything happens for a reason, trust no one but yourself and good things fall apart; none occurs. Wikiquote’s talk page also lists it as unsourced. Monroe has no full texts in the local corpus, and her other interviews, memoir and notebooks were not searched exhaustively; no original author, date of composition or first Monroe credit has been established. Apocryphal means unsubstantiated here, not proved to have been invented in 2008.

1. 2008Earliest found · credited to Marilyn MonroeThe 2008 Rock Volleyball Media Guide prints the paragraph and credits it to Marilyn Monroe, without a Monroe-era reference. This is the earliest dated publication located in this run.I believe that everything happens for a reason. people change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so that you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.Slippery Rock University, 2008 Rock Volleyball Media Guide, p. 12 (PDF page 12). Checked in the text of a page scan, not the image. Source
2. 12 August 2010Spread · credited to Marilyn MonroeThe public essay Everything happens for a reason reproduces the paragraph as Monroe’s view while discussing its philosophy.Everything happens for a reason, thinking makes it so, 12 August 2010. Checked in a full-text transcription. Source
3. 2012Spread · credited to Marilyn MonroeA psychology article opens with the paragraph as an epigraph credited to Marilyn Monroe, without a Monroe source.Jonathan F. Bassett and Stacey B. Going, A Terror Management Analysis of Perceived Purpose: The Effects of Mortality Salience on Attributions for Occurrences, The Open Psychology Journal 5 (2012), pp. 20–30, p. 20 (PDF page 1). Checked in the text of a page scan, not the image. Source

A motivational paragraph circulates under Monroe’s name, presenting betrayal and disappointment as steps toward a better life. A university sports media guide already prints the paragraph as hers in its 2008 edition; an academic article repeats the attribution as an epigraph in 2012. Neither supplies a Monroe publication, interview or recording.

The paragraph turns change, mistakes and failed relationships into lessons, ending with the hope that something better can replace a loss.

A later writer placing Monroe’s name under the paragraph does not make it a documented statement by her. There is also no basis here for inferring her personal beliefs from it.

No authenticated source in Monroe’s own words was found. Use as an unattributed saying rather than as her statement.

Life, Hope, Suffering, Emotions, Change, Wisdom, Meaning of life, Education

• We can’t choose where we come from, but we can choose where we go from there. (paraphrase) Stephen Chbosky
• The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. (not found) Mark Twain
• I’m not interested in money. I just want to be wonderful.
• Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. (misattributed) Mark Twain
• ‘Men work together.’ I told him from the heart, ‘Whether they work together or apart.’ Robert Frost

• immortalmarilyn.com/misquoting-marilyn
• en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Marilyn_Monroe
• s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/rockathletics.com/documents/2009/2/2/Volleyball Media Guide 2008.pdf
• openpsychologyjournal.com/contents/volumes/V5/TOPSYJ-5-20/TOPSYJ-5-20.pdf
• thinkingmakesitso.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/everything-happens-for-a-reason

“I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they’re right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.” Attributed to Marilyn Monroe. No. It is not in Monroe’s works, and who first wrote it is not known. Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/everything-happens-for-a-reason/ (checked 29 October 2026).

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