Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will.
—Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian Head of State
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbow’d.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Lies but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
—William Ernest Henley (1849–1903) English Poet, Critic, Editor
When fate hands us a lemon, make lemonade.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
A bald man scorched by the rays on sun on his head, seeking shade, guided by his fate, took shelter under a palm tree hoping to get some relief. Even there, a big fruit fell from the tree, with a loud noise broke his head and killed him. Usually, troubles always follow an unlucky person wherever he goes.
—Neetishatakam
Chance generally favors the prudent.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Fate is not satisfied with inflicting one calamity.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Thought presides over all.—Fate, that dead phantom, shall vanish from action, and providence alone be visible in heaven and on earth.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Destiny has a constant passion for the incongruous.
—Booth Tarkington (1869–1946) American Novelist, Dramatist
Every man is the architect of his own future.
—Anonymous
The experiences of camp life show that a man does have a choice of action. There were enough examples, often of a heroic nature, which proved that apathy could be overcome, irritability suppressed. Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress. We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even in the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to life.
—Viktor Frankl (1905–97) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychotherapist
Seek not to know what must not be reveal, for joy only flows where fate is most concealed. A busy person would find their sorrows much more; if future fortunes were known before!
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
The bitterest tragic element in life to be derived from an intellectual source is the belief in a brute Fate or Destiny.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Call it Nature, Fate, Fortune; all these are names of the one and selfsame God.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
There is tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries; on such a full sea we are now afloat; and we must take the current the clouds folding and unfolding beyond the horizon. when it serves, or lose our ventures.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
There’s much to be said for challenging fate instead of ducking behind it.
—Diana Trilling (1905–96) American Literary Critic, Author
Fate laughs at probabilities.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Tempted fate will leave the loftiest star.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
It is a singular fact that many men of action incline to the theory of fatalism, while the greater part of men of thought believe in a divine providence.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Fate is not the ruler, but the servant of Providence.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
Fate throws fortune, but not everyone catches.
—Polish Proverb
Destiny has two ways of crushing us—by refusing our wishes and by fulfilling them.
—Henri Frederic Amiel (1821–81) Swiss Moral Philosopher, Poet, Critic
All human things are subject to decay,
And, when Fate summons, monarchs must obey;
This Flecknoe found, who like Augustus young
Was call’d to empire, and had govern’d long:
In prose and verse, was own’d, without dispute
Through all the realms of nonsense, absolute.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Fate is the endless chain of causation, whereby things are; the reason or formula by which the world goes on.
—Zeno of Citium (c.334–c.265 BCE) Greek Philosopher
Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon heaven.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
He that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.
—French Proverb
Chance happens to all, but to turn chance to account is the gift of few.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
It’s the niceties that make the difference fate gives us the hand, and we play the cards.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
The men and woman who make the best boon companions seem to have given up hope of doing something else…some defect of talent or opportunity has cut them off from their pet ambition and has thus left them with leisure to take an interest in their lives of others. Your ambition may be, it makes him keep his thoughts at home. But the heartbroken people—if I may use the word in a mild, benevolent sense—the people whose wills are subdued to fate, give us consolation, recognition, and welcome.
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933) American Literary Critic, Essayist
He cannot complain of a hard sentence, who is made master of his own fate.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist