How a
person masters his
or her fate is more important
than what that fate is.
Wilhelm von Humboldt
The
true adventurer goes forth aimless and uncalculating to
meet and greet unknown fate. -O.
Henry
A strong
belief in fate is the worst kind of slavery; on the other hand, there is a
comfort in the thought that God will be moved by our
prayers. -Epicurus
Fate is the
friend of the good, the guide of the wise, the tyrant of the foolish, the
enemy of the bad. -William R. Alger
Nietzsche was
the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the
idea came to him of what he called "the love of your fate."
Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, "This is
what I need." It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though
it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that
moment--not discouragement--you will find the strength is there. Any
disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your
stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the
spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to
flow. -Joseph Campbell
If you are
blessed with great fortunes. . . you may love your fate. But your
fate never guarantees the security of those great fortunes. As soon
as you realize your helplessness at the mercy of your fate, you are again
in despair. Thus the hatred of fate can be generated not only by
misfortunes, but also by great fortunes. Your hatred of fate is at
the same time your hatred of your self. You hate your self for being
so helpless under the crushing power of fate. -T.
K. Seung, "The Dionysian Mystery"
We are the makers of
our own lives. There is no such thing as fate. Our lives are
the result of our previous actions, our karma, and it naturally flows
that, having been ourselves the makers of our karma, we must also be able
to unmake it. -Vivekananda
No matter the barbs of fate
that frustrate you, no matter how stacked against you the cards of
fortune. . . . There is a liberating law in the universe, and you can
become the highest of the high, wisest of the
wise. -U.S. Anderson
Fate! There is no
fate. Between the thought and the success God is the only agent.
Fate is not the ruler, but the servant of Providence.
-Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Sometimes our
fate resembles a fruit tree in winter. Who would think that
these branches would turn green again and blossom, but we hope it,
we know it. -Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe
Our
fate is matched by the total freedom we have to react to our fate.
It is as if we were dealt a hand of card. Once we have them,
we are free to play them as we choose.
-Thomas Sowell
There's
much to be said for challenging fate instead of ducking behind it.
-Diana Trilling
Although
fate presents the circumstances, how you react depends on your
character. -unattributed
Just
because Fate doesn't deal you the right cards, it doesn't mean you
should give up. It just means you have to play the cards you
get to their maximum potential. -Les Brown
The world's
greatest lie: At a certain point in our lives we lose
control of what's happening to us and our lives become controlled
by fate. -Paulo
Coelho
A person does
not choose his or her fate; he or she only fulfills it. We
are bound by our fate as long as we accept the values that
determine it. -Alexander Lowen
But
if fate, as a limit-determination, still seems more powerful than
free will, there are two things we should not forget: first
that fate is only an abstract concept, a force without matter;
that for the individual there is only an individual fate, that
fate is nothing else but a chain of events; that people, as soon
as we act, create our own events, determine our own fate; that, in
general, events, insofar as they affect us, are, consciously or
unconsciously, brought about by ourselves and must suit us.
The activity of people, however, does not first begin with birth.
But already with the embryo and perhaps--who can be certain
here--already with our parents and forefathers. All of you
who believe in the immortality of the soul, unless you are willing
to allow the development of the mortal out of something immortal
or are willing to grant that the soul flies about in thin air
until it is at last lodged in a body, must also believe in the
pre-existence of the soul. The Hindu says: Fate is
nothing but the acts we have committed in a prior state of our
being.
-Friedrich
Nietzsche, "Freedom of Will and Fate"
I was
thinking of my patients, and how the worst moment for them was
when they discovered they were masters of their own fate. It
was not a matter of bad or good luck. When they could no
longer blame fate, they were in despair. -Anaïs
Nin
Accept fate,
and move on. Don't yield to the seductive pull of self-pity.
Acting like a victim threatens your future.
-unattributed
Fate
is a manifestation of natural causes. That’s it.
It’s not a conscious entity. It has no plan.
-Walter Wykes, The
Fly
People
often think that their individual fate is everything. How
wrong we are! It is enough to contemplate the invisible to know
how much there is that is greater than fate. Yes, close your
eyes, you will see what light renders invisible. You will
see the little shadow in the shadow. You will see the
signature from beyond. Listen to that fountain; don't you
see every tiny drop of water sparkling in the dark? There is
meaning. -Hugues de Montalembert, Invisible:
A Memoir
Our
fate is something which exists outside ourselves, and which once
revealed expresses the meaning of our lives. Apart, however,
from soothsayers who claim to have a means of foretelling exactly
what will befall us, this kind of fate is only normally revealed
after a life has ended. Only then can the meaning of that
life be understood.
-Andrew Gamble, Politics
and Fate
When
we consider the incidents of former days, and perceive, while
reviewing the long line of causes, how the most important events
of our lives originated in the most trifling circumstances; how
the beginning of our greatest happiness or greatest misery is to
be attributed to a delay, to an accident, to a mistake; we learn a
lesson of profound humility. -Arthur
Helps, Thoughts in the Cloister and the Crowd
I am
a firm believer in fate. That no matter what we feel or what we
may think we want or even what's best for us, that it is all
predetermined. And most importantly, fate is completely out of our
hands. Therefore, I decided long ago to let life happen as it
happens. I also strongly believe that we are all here for a
reason, something to be learned, and by simply letting life take
its course than we shall learn what that is.
-Wanda F. Ross, Reconcilable Fate
They
may well fear fate who have any infirmity of habit or aim: but
they who rest on what is have a destiny beyond destiny, and can
make mouths of fortune. -Orison
Swett Marden, Architects
of Fate
Fate
is not what we decide or make our goal. It is what we are
revealed to be in the working out of fate. We act in the
dark. Everything we do has a significance that escapes us
and overturns all our certainties.
-Stelios
Ramphos, Fate and Ambiguity in Oedipus the King
Fate
is a misplaced retreat. Many people rationalize an
unexplained event as fate and shrug their shoulders when it
occurs. But that is not what fate is. The world operates as
a series of circles that are invisible, for they extend to the
upper air. Fate is where these circles cut to earth.
Since we cannot see them, do not know their content, and have no
sense of their width, it is impossible to predict when these cuts
will slice into our reality. When this happens, we call it
fate. Fate is not a chance event but one that is inevitable,
we are simply blind to its nature and time.
-James Levine, The
Blue Notebook
Perhaps
fate isn't blind after all. Perhaps it's capable of fantasy,
even compassion. -Elie Wiesel, The
Time of the Uprooted
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