Famous Quotes & Sayings

Emily Dickinson

Superiority to Fate Is difficult to gain 'Tis not conferred of Any But possible to earn.

Katharine Hepburn

I'm a legend because I've survived over a long period of time and still seem to be master of my fate - I'm still paddling the goddamned boat myself.

Joseph Conrad

It is to be remarked that a good many people are born curiously unfitted for the fate waiting them on this earth.

Joseph Haydn

The life's story of great geniuses is a sad one, without much tangible reward, which does not inspire future generations to face a similar fate. Alas also, it stands to reason why so many talent will not come to sparkle on the artistic firmanent.

Joseph Butler

Things and actions are what they are, and the consequences of them will be what they will be: why then should we desire to be deceived?

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Well, look who I ran into," crowed Coincidence. "Please," flirted Fate, "this was meant to be.

Jonathan Swift

This Day, whate'er the Fates decree; Shall still be kept with Joy by me: This Day then, let us not be told, That you are sick, and I grown old

Napoleon Hill

We are the masters of our fate, the captains of our souls, because we have the power to control our thoughts.

Napoleon Bonaparte

There is no such thing as an accident, only a failure to recognise the hand of fate

Napoleon Bonaparte

A battle sometimes decides everything; and sometimes the most trifling thing decides the fate of a battle.

Napoleon Bonaparte

There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.

Napoleon Bonaparte

The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one's self to destiny.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Till the Future dares Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be An echo and a light unto eternity!

Paul Valery

It is a sign of the times, and not a very good sign, that these days it is necessary and not only necessary but urgent to interest minds in the fate of Mind, that is to say, in their own fate.

Pope Benedict XVI

Concern for the fate of the great rivers of the earth must lead us to reflect soberly on the model of development which our society is pursuing. A purely economic and technological understanding of progress, to the extent that it fails to acknowledge its intrinsic limitations and to take into consideration the integral good of humanity, will inevitably provoke negative consequences for individuals, peoples and creation itself.

Pindar

To be envied is a nobler fate than to be pitied.

Philip Massinger

It is true fortitude to stand firm against All shocks of fate, when cowards faint and die In fear to suffer more calamity.

Rachel Caine

Fate" Eve said with a sigh "I'm not sure fate had to burn up your car to get the point across," Shane said, buckling his own seatbelt. "No, not that. The hearse. I'm going to name it Fate." Shane stared at Eve for a long, long few seconds, then slowly shook his head. "Have you considered medication, or-" She flipped him off. "Ah. Back to normal. Excellent.

Peter Ackroyd

There is a word in Old English which belongs wholly to that civilization - "dustsceawung," meaning contemplation of dust. It is a true image of the Anglo-Saxon mind, or at least an echo of that consciousness which considered transcience and loss to be part of the human estate; it was a world in which life was uncertain and the principal diety was fate or destiny or "wyrd."

Simon Pegg

We might not know we are seeking people who best enrich our lives, but somehow on a deep subconscious level we absolutely are. Whether the bond is temporary or permanent, whether it succeeds or fails, fate is simply a configuration of choices that combine with others to shape the relationships that surround us. We cannot choose our family, but we can choose our friends, and we sometimes, before we even meet them.

Rick Riordan

Even the gods couldn't devise a fates so twisted.

Thucydides

To be an object of hatred and aversion to their contemporaries has been the usual fate of all those whose merit has raised them above the common level. The man who submits to the shafts of envy for the sake of noble objects pursues a judicious course for his own lasting fame. Hatred dies with its object, while merit soon breaks forth in full splendor, and his glory is handed down to posterity in never-dying strains.

Rick Atkinson

In battle, topography is fate.

Regina Brett

It takes courage to sit on a jury. How many of us want to decide the fate of another person's life or freedom? How many of us want to hold that kind of power in our hands?

Tom Hollander

I do a TV show about a priest in London, and he is also slightly beleaguered and is subject to fate and misfortune and daily difficulty.

Tom Morello

If aliens came down and challenged us to a Battle of the Bands to decide the fate of Planet Earth, I would feel very confident putting early Van Halen forward as our champion.

S. J. Perelman

Fate was dealing from the bottom of the deck.

Saadi

The covetous map explores the whole world in pursuit of a subsistence, and fate is close at his heels.

Rosa Luxemburg

The victory of socialism will not descend like fate from heaven.

Susan Orlean

Borders had lousy management and made bad corporate decisions, so its fate is less like a terrible accident than a slow-motion slide into a ditch, but it's hard to be happy about a bookseller's demise.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

But every jet of chaos which threatens to exterminate us is convertible by intellect into wholesome force. Fate is unpenetrated causes.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

We shun the rugged battle of fate where strength is born.