The fruit of chance and necessity

Democritus:

Everything in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity

Makes sense when you think of chance as being random variation and necessity being the pursuit of survival and continuity.

Added: In researching this quote, it appears that it was misremembered by an author, Jacques Monod, who used part of the quote as a title for one of his books. From there, it has been frequently requoted, still incorrectly. Background from Antoine Danchin in The Atomists: Logos and Necessity.

Clayton Cramer highlights a similar experience where a quote gets attributed, in this case to Cotton Mather, and then enters circulation without ever being corrected. Did Cotton Mather Really Say This?