I have a wife, I have sons: all of them hostages given to fate.
—Lucian (c.120–c.200 CE) Greek Satirist, Rhetorician, Writer
Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
There’s much to be said for challenging fate instead of ducking behind it.
—Diana Trilling (1905–96) American Literary Critic, Author
Human reason needs only to will more strongly than fate, and she is fate.
—Thomas Mann (1875–1955) German Novelist, Short Story Writer, Social Critic, Philanthropist, Essayist
It’s the niceties that make the difference fate gives us the hand, and we play the cards.
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
All is created and goes according to order, yet o’er our lifetime rules an uncertain fate.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Statesman only talk of fate when they have blundered.
—Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) Italian Head of State, Politician
Chance is a word devoid of sense, nothing can exist without a cause.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
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
Tempted fate will leave the loftiest star.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Every moment of our lives we are either growing or dying—and it’s largely a choice, not fate. Throughout its life cycle, every one of the body’s trillions of cells is driven to grow and improve its ability to use more of its innate yet untapped capacity. Research biologist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who was twice awarded the Nobel Prize, called this syntropy, which he defined as the “innate drive in living matter to perfect itself”. It turns conventional thinking upside down…As living cells—or as people—there is no staying the same. If we aim for some middle ground or status quo, it’s an illusion—beneath the surface what’s actually happening is we’re dying, not growing. And the goal of a lifetime is continued growth, not adulthood. As Rene Dubos put it, “Genius is childhood recaptured”. For this to happen, studies show that we must recapture—or prevent the loss of—such child-like traits as the ability to learn, to love, to laugh about small things, to leap, to wonder, and to explore. It’s time to rescue ourselves from our grown-up ways before it’s too late.
—Robert Cooper (b.1947) British Diplomat
Destiny has a constant passion for the incongruous.
—Booth Tarkington (1869–1946) American Novelist, Dramatist
Fate throws fortune, but not everyone catches.
—Polish Proverb
Whatever may happen to thee, it was prepared for thee from all eternity; and the implication of causes was, from eternity, spinning the thread of thy being, and of that which is incident to it.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
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
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
It is the fate of the coconut husk to float, of the stone to sink.
—Malaysian Proverb
Failure and success seem to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling, of fighting with their star or against it, and in the whole universe the only really interesting movement is this wriggle.
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
Fate steals along with silent tread, Found oftenest in what least we dread; Frowns in the storm with angry brow, But in the sunshine strikes the blow.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973) Irish Novelist, Short-story Writer
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
Wherever the fates lead us let us follow.
—Virgil (70–19 BCE) Roman Poet
Fate with impartial hand turns out the doom of high and low; her capacious urn is constantly shaking out the names of all mankind.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Dreadful is the mysterious power of fate; there is no deliverance from it by wealth or by war, by walled city or dark, seabeaten ships.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Full of wisdom are the ordinations of fate.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
We make our own fortunes and we call them fate.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Fate is not the ruler, but the servant of Providence.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
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
A door that seems to stand open must be a man’s size, or it is not the door that providence means for him.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Destiny: A tyrant’s authority for crime and a fool’s excuse for failure.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Whatever limits us we call Fate.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
God overrules all mutinous accidents, brings them under his laws of fate, and makes them all serviceable to his purpose.
—Marcus Aurelius (121–180) Emperor of Rome, Stoic Philosopher
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
Whosoever quarrels with his fate does not understand it, says Bettine; and among all her sayings she spoke none wiser.
—Lydia Maria Child (1802–80) American Abolitionist, Writer
There is but one philosophy and its name is fortitude! To bear is to conquer our fate.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
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
Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When fate hands us a lemon, make lemonade.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
Our wills and fates do so contrary run, that our devices still are overthrown; our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our own.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
Fate leads him who follows it, and drags him who resist.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
A God without dominion, providence, and final causes, is nothing else but fate and nature.
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744) English Poet
Fate keeps on happening.
—Anita Loos (1888–1981) American Actor, Novelist, Screenwriter
The fates lead the willing, and drag the unwilling.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
The lofty pine is oftenest shaken by the winds; High towers fall with a heavier crash; And the lightning strikes the highest mountain.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
What fate imposes, men must needs abide; it boots not to resist both wind and tide.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.
—Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) American Head of State
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet