We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
The destiny of any nation at any given time depends on the opinion of its young people, those under twenty-five.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves; we are underlings.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Not without a shudder may the human hand reach into the mysterious urn of destiny.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
I knew what my job was; it was to go out and meet the people and love them.
—Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–97) English Royal, Humanitarian, Peace Activist
It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
How easy ’tis, when Destiny proves kind, With full-spread sails to run before the wind.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Destiny is but a phrase of the weak human heart—the dark apology for every error.—The strong and virtuous admit no destiny.—On earth conscience guides; in heaven God watches.—And destiny is but the phantom we invoke to silence the one and dethrone the other.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
And the high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule, or to impose himself in any other way.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
But you can catch yourself entertaining habitually certain ideas and setting others aside; and that, I think, is where our personal destinies are largely decided.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
Death and life have their determined appointments; riches and honors depend upon heaven.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
More than anything else, I believe it’s our decisions, not the conditions of our lives, that determine our destiny.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
‘Tis all a chequerboard of nights and days Where Destiny with men for pieces plays: Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays, And one by one back in the closet lays.
—Omar Khayyam (1048–1123) Persian Mathematician
Thoughts lead on to purpose, purpose leads onto actions, actions form habits, habits decide character, and character fixes our destiny.
—Tryon Edwards American Theologian
No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently.
—Agnes de Mille (1905–93) American Dancer, Choreographer
We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny. But what we put into it is ours.
—Dag Hammarskjold (1905–61) Swedish Statesman, UN Diplomat
That which God writes on thy forehead, thou wilt come to it.
—The Holy Quran Sacred Scripture of Islam
The warrior of the light has a destiny to fulfill.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
There is no such thing as chance; and what seems to us the merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Anatomy is destiny.
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) Austrian Psychiatrist, Psychoanalytic
Nothing comes to pass but what God appoints.—Our fate is decreed, and things do not happen by chance, but every man’s portion of joy or sorrow is predetermined.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Philosophers never stood in need of Homer or the Pharisees to be convinced that everything is done by immutable laws; that everything is settled; that everything is the necessary effect of some previous cause.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
We are not here on earth to change our destiny, but to fulfill it.
—Guy Finley
If the course of human affairs be considered, it will be seen that many things arise against which heaven does not allow us to guard.
—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) Florentine Political Philosopher
The acts of this life are the destiny of the next.
—Eastern Proverb
Let us follow our destiny, ebb and flow. Whatever may happen, we master fortune by accepting it.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
No love, no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.
—Francois Mauriac (1885–1970) French Novelist
They who talk much of destiny, their birth-star, etc., are in a lower dangerous plane, and invite the evil they fear.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Destiny is our will, and our will is nature.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Head of State, Political leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
Man proposes, but God disposes.
—Thomas a Kempis (1379–1471) German Religious Priest, Writer
I must in the face of a storm, think, live and die as a king.
—Frederick II of Prussia (1712–86) Prussian Monarch
The law of the harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.
—George Boardman the Younger (1801–31) American Baptist Minister
Nothing can have as its destination anything other than its origin. The contrary idea, the idea of progress, is poison.
—Simone Weil (1909–1943) French Philosopher, Political Activist
To accomplish our destiny it is not enough to merely guard prudently against road accidents. We must also cover before nightfall the distance assigned to each of us.
—Alexis Carrel (1873–1944) American Surgeon, Biologist
If a man is destined to drown, he will drown even in a spoonful of water.
—Yiddish Proverb
Whatever you habitually think yourself to be, that you are. You must form, now, a greater and better habit; you must form a conception of yourself as a being of limitless power, and habitually think that you are that being. It is the habitual, not the periodical thought that decides your destiny.
—Wallace Wattles (1860–1911) American New Thought Author
That which is not allotted the hand cannot reach; and what is allotted you will find wherever you may be.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din) (c.1213–91) Persian Poet
Our problems are man-made—therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be a s big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
—John F. Kennedy (1917–63) American Head of State, Journalist
We write our own destiny; we become what we do.
—Soong Mei-ling (1898–2003) First Lady of the Republic of China
Both renunciation of action and the performance of action lead to Nirvana (Liberation); but these performance of action is superior to renunciation of action. The action of today becomes the destiny of tomorrow.
—Swami Chinmayananda (1916–93) Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher
Destiny: A tyrant’s authority for crime and a fool’s excuse for failure.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny – it is the light that guides your way.
—Heraclitus (535BCE–475BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
What God writes on your forehead you will become.
—The Holy Quran Sacred Scripture of Islam
He that is born to be hanged shall never be drowned.
—French Proverb
Destiny is an absolutely definite and inexorable ruler. Physical ability and moral determination count for nothing. It is impossible to perform the simplest act when the gods say “no.” I have no idea how they bring pressure to bear on such occasions; I only know that it is irresistible.
—Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) English Occultist, Mystic, Magician
We are no more free agents than the queen of clubs when she victoriously takes prisoner the knave of hearts.
—Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762) English Aristocrat, Poet, Novelist, Writer
We still have it in our power to rise above the fears, imagined and real, and to shoulder the great burdens which destiny has placed upon us, not for our country alone, but for the benefit of all the world. That is the only destiny worthy of America.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author