quotations about fate
Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.
ELIZABETH BOWEN
The House in Paris
But God has wisely hid from human sight
The dark decrees of future fate,
And sown their seeds in depth of night.
JOHN DRYDEN
"The 29th Ode of the First Book of Horace"
To bear is to conquer our fate.
THOMAS CAMPBELL
"Lines Written on Visiting a Scene in Argyleshire"
I stand upon the downs of life,
And watch two barks of Fate sail in;
The waves and winds are all at strife,
I sadly wonder who will win.
MARY CLEMMER AMES
"The Yachts"
Yet they, believe me, who await
No gifts from Chance, have conquer'd Fate.
MATTHEW ARNOLD
Resignation
Fate always tests those whom she would exalt; she tries them in the wilderness. The years of exile will flit by and you will come home in glory.
RAMESH MENON
The Mahabharata
There is no armour against fate.
JAMES SHIRLEY
The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses
And now it goes as it goes
and where it ends is Fate.
And neither by singeing flesh
nor tipping cups of wine
nor shedding burning tears can you
enchant away the rigid Fury.
AESCHYLUS
Agamemnon
In the classical Greek view, human affairs are subject to the will and whim of the gods. Good and ill fortune alternate in quite unpredictable ways. Hence, knowledge has the purpose of fortifying the soul and assuaging the envy of the gods. The wise man always reflects upon the extreme vicissitudes of fate. In times of the greatest triumph he bears in mind the transitoriness of life; in times of the greatest calamity he reflects upon the unpredictability of fortune, perhaps even the possibility of a renewal. Knowledge is virtue where it helps men attain inner peace in the midst of the fate that is their lot.
REINHARD BENDIX
Force
I would not fear nor wish my fate,
But boldly say each night,
To-morrow let my sun his beams display,
Or in clouds hide them; I have lived to-day.
ABRAHAM COWLEY
Of Myself
Fate steals along with ceaseless tread,
And meets us oft when least we dread;
Frown in the storm with threatening brow,
Yet in the sunshine strikes the blow.
WILLIAM COWPER
attributed, Benedicta
Fate is a fickle bitch who dotes on irony.
GLEN COOK
The Black Company
Deep in the man sits fast his fate
To mould his fortunes, mean or great.
RALPH WALDO EMERSON
Fate
Each fate is just, since each individual chooses it freely.
ROBERT APATOW
The Spiritual Art of Dialogue
What is Fate? Fate is the name given to the unfolding of all events, all worlds, realms, lives and powers, and the final end that awaits them, before they are regenerated at the hands of the Fate-weaver, who is the Old Veiled One.
ROBIN ARTISSON
The Flaming Circle
The planets are bells on his motley,
He fleers at the stars in their state,
He banters the suns burning hotly--
The Jester whose nickname is Fate.
ARTHUR GUITERMAN
"Fate
Thy fate is seeking thee,
Fear not! Fear not!
Nor hither, thither run, with puny strain
Of frenzied fingers on this closèd door,
Or that, to find her. Leave thy worse than vain
And feverish seeking; fret thy soul no more,
Nor vex the heavens with ineffectual cries;
Fate will adjust her perfect harmonies
And weave thee in.
CLARA MARCELLE FARRAR GREENE
"Thy Fate Is Seeking Thee"
Why should we try to shield people from fate? Isn't that always wrong? One is fated to be born the child of a certain father, and one can no more escape the consequences of his father's misdeeds than the doer himself can. Perhaps the pain and the shame come from the wish and the attempt to do so, more than from the fact itself. The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children. But the children are innocent of evil, and this visitation must be for their good, and will be, if they bear it willingly.
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS
A Pair of Patient Lovers
Yet though a man gets many wounds in breast,
He dieth not, unless the appointed time,
The limit of his life's span, coincide;
Nor does the man who by the hearth at home
Sits still, escape the doom that Fate decrees.
AESCHYLUS
Fragment
Fate was some kind of an invisible beast lurking around them, teasing them. I could have killed you today if I wanted to, it was thinking. Or maybe tomorrow. Hee, hee. You'll never know. Just don't tempt me.
AUDREY PFITZENMAIER
Cheating Fate