Belief

"But the gods are dead— Ay, Zeus is dead, and all the gods but Doubt, And doubt is brother devil to Despair!"

"All events whatsoever are governed by the secret counsel of God."

"For I am a weed, Flung from the rock, on Ocean's foam, to sail, Where'er the surge may sweep, the tempest's breath prevail."

"There are certain events which to each man's life are as comets to the earth, seemingly strange and erratic portents; distinct from the ordinary lights which guide our course and mark our seasons, yet true to their own laws, potent in their own influences."

"Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved."

"DESTINY, n. A tyrant's authority for crime and fool's excuse for failure."

"There are two futures, the future of desire and the future of fate, and man's reason has never learnt to separate them. Desire, the strongest thing in the world, is itself all future, and it is not for nothing that in all the religions the motive is always forwards to an endless futurity of bliss or annihilation. Now that religion gives place to science the paradisical future of the soul fades before the Utopian future of the species, and still the future rules. But always there is, on the other side, destiny, that which inevitably will happen, a future here concerned not as the other was with man and his desires, but blindly and inexorably with the whole universe of space and time. The Buddhist seeks to escape from the Wheel of Life and Death, the Christian passes through them in the faith of another world to come, the modern reformer, as unrealistic but less imaginative, demands his chosen future in this world of men. Can we in any better way reconcile desire and fate?"

"We believe that all the posterity of Adam, being thus fallen into perdition and ruin by the sin of our first parents, God then did manifest himself such as he is; that is to say, merciful and just: Merciful, since he delivers and preserves from this perdition all whom he, in his eternal and unchangeable council, of mere goodness hath elected in Christ Jesus our Lord, without respect to their works: Just, in leaving others in the fall and perdition wherein they have involved themselves."

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."

"[God] promised not from the power of our will but from His own predestination. For He promised what He Himself would do, not what men would do. Because, although men do those good things which pertain to God’s worship, He Himself makes them to do what He has commanded; it is not they that cause Him to do what He has promised. Otherwise the fulfilment of God’s promises would not be in the power of God, but in that of men."

"Che l'uomo il suo destin fugge di raro."

"God does reprobate some. For it was said above (A[1]) that predestination is a part of providence. To providence, however, it belongs to permit certain defects in those things which are subject to providence, as was said above (Q[22], A[2]). Thus, as men are ordained to eternal life through the providence of God, it likewise is part of that providence to permit some to fall away from that end; this is called reprobation. Thus, as predestination is a part of providence, in regard to those ordained to eternal salvation, so reprobation is a part of providence in regard to those who turn aside from that end. Hence reprobation implies not only foreknowledge, but also something more, as does providence, as was said above (Q[22], A[1]). Therefore, as predestination includes the will to confer grace and glory; so also reprobation includes the will to permit a person to fall into sin, and to impose the punishment of damnation on account of that sin."

"Lifting your head in your goodness, greatness and majesty, majestically you extend your arm in order to determine destinies."

"“Destiny,” said John. “The ghastliest word a man can speak.”"

"Destiny, prosperity -- the wood of destiny, wood of prosperity, and the reeds of destiny, reeds of prosperity, adorn the holy cattle-pen."

"My death and life, My bane and antidote, are both before me."

"To be a Prodigal's favourite,—then worse truth, A Miser's Pensioner,—behold our lot!"

"One country, one constitution, one destiny."

"Pluck one thread, and the web ye mar; Break but one Of a thousand keys, and the paining jar Through all will run."

"Tes destins sont d'un homme, et tes vœux sont d'un dieu."

"Thou cam'st not to thy place by accident, It is the very place God meant for thee; And should'st thou there small room for action see, Do not for this give room for discontent."

"The seed ye sow, another reaps; The wealth ye find, another keeps; The robes ye weave, another wears; The arms ye forge, another bears."

"Truly some men there be That live always in great horrour, And say it goeth by destiny To hang or wed: both hath one hour; And whether it be, I am well sure, Hanging is better of the twain; Sooner done, and shorter pain."

"Ich fühl 's das ich der Mann des Schicksals bin."

"Every man meets his Waterloo at last."

"The irrevocable Hand That opes the year's fair gate, doth ope and shut The portals of our earthly destinies; We walk through blindfold, and the noiseless doors Close after us, forever."

"They only fall, that strive to move, Or lose, that care to keep."

"Unseen hands delay The coming of what oft seems close in ken, And, contrary, the moment, when we say "'Twill never come!" comes on us even then."

"We are but as the instrument of Heaven. Our work is not design, but destiny."

"The future works out great men's destinies: The present is enough for common souls, Who, never looking forward, are indeed Mere clay wherein the footprints of their age Are petrified forever."

"All, soon or late, are doom'd that path to tread."

"No living man can send me to the shades Before my time; no man of woman born, Coward or brave, can shun his destiny."

"Character is fate. (Destiny)."

"Art and power will go on as they have done,—will make day out of night, time out of space, and space out of time."

"Life treads on life, and heart on heart; We press too close in church and mart To keep a dream or grave apart."

"We talk about destiny, about what's meant to be, when in reality it's usually a combination of failure plus time, a series of adjusted circumstances, a question of human resilience and ability to reconfigure our expectations."

"God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected . . . are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power. through faith, unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of His own will, whereby He extendeth or withholdeth mercy, as He pleaseth, for the glory of His Sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice. (Chap. III — Articles I, III, VI and VII)"

"Quisque suos patimur manes."

"And from his ashes may be made The violet of his native land."

"And all the bustle of departure—sometimes sad, sometimes intoxicating—just as fear or hope may be inspired by the new chances of coming destiny."

"But He, that hath the steerage of my course, Direct my sail!"

"What is done cannot be now amended."

"They that stand high have many blasts to shake them; And if they fall, they dash themselves to pieces."

"A man whom both the waters and the wind, In that vast tennis-court, hath made the ball For them to play upon."

"If he had been as you and you as he, You would have slipt like him."

"Things at the worst will cease or else climb upward To what they were before."

"What, will the line stretch out to the crack of doom?"

"For it is a knell That summons thee to heaven or to hell."

"Think you I bear the shears of destiny? Have I commandment on the pulse of life?"

"Here burns my candle out; ay, here it dies, Which, whiles it lasted, gave King Henry light."