quotations about destiny
Men speak of blind destiny, a thing without scheme or purpose. But what sort of destiny is that? Each act in this world from which there can be no turning back has before it another, and it another yet. In a vast endless net. Men imagine that the choices before them are theirs to make. But we are free to act only upon what is given. Choice is lost in the maze of generations and each act in the maze is itself an enslavement for it voids every alternative and binds one ever more tightly into the constraints that make a life.
CORMAC MCCARTHY
Cities of the Plain
Our destiny changes with our thought; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thought corresponds with our desire.
ORISON SWETT MARDEN
Peace
The grave is still the best shelter against the storms of destiny.
G. C. LICHTENBERG
attributed, The New Webster Quotation Dictionary
Destiny can never be cast away by you because it is you.
SORIN CERIN
Wisdom Collection
Destiny is ... only God's whisper.
SORIN CERIN
Wisdom Collection
Destiny is a journey. Therefore, it is essential for anyone who wants to reach his or her planned destination to stay on course. Detouring can cause a trip that is only meant to take a day turn into a trip that takes weeks... The only way you can travel into your destiny is to release yourself of other routes that cause lengthy detours, taking you back to the beginning and sometimes to dead end streets.
KRISTI LUV WILSON
Driving Destiny
Destiny is inescapable ... it is whatever God, however you perceive Him, ordains our life to be.
BOB LOVE
Destiny's Voyage
It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
speech in the House of Commons, Feb. 27, 1945
The soul of man createth its own destiny.
NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS
"Extract"
Alas, poor men, their destiny. When all goes well a shadow will overthrow it. If it be unkind one stroke of a wet sponge wipes all the picture out.
AESCHYLUS
The Oresteia
Betimes I have heard people bewail the fact that our destinies are shrouded in mystery; I think, though, that it is a blessing of sorts. Surely if we knew what bitterness fate held in store, we would shrink back in fear and let the cup of life pass us untasted.
JACQUELINE CAREY
Kushiel's Dart
Don't you know that what happens to you once always happens again? You always react in the same way to the same thing. It's no accident when you make a mess. Then you do it again. It's called destiny.
CESARE PAVESE
The Devil in the Hills
Man must understand his universe in order to understand his destiny.
NEIL ARMSTRONG
attributed, Rocket Men
There can be no exit from manifest destiny.
MICK FARREN
Darklost
To be always on the move, learning, discovering, unfolding, is your eternal destiny. Living is life's only purpose... To live without self-concern.
NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
I Am That
Destiny is selfhood. To live your destiny is to be raised above accidental circumstances to the level of your essential being. This is not merely because destiny precludes accidents and thus provides a propitious life-environment. The relationship between destiny and self is more intimate than that. Destiny defines the self: you ARE your destiny. To speak of destiny as though it is merely something that happens to you is to assume that a person is in essence always the same, changeless at the core amid the ceaseless changes of life and history. But the truth is that what happens to you--including in this category the ideas and impulses that arise within you in response to outward events--defines your identity. The only way you could be fully identified would be by a story--of the kind God alone could tell--of the unfolding of your life in all its depths and complexities. Thus living your destiny is carrying on your life as the one you really are.
GLENN E. TINDER
The Fabric of Hope
Destiny is what you are supposed to do in life. Fate is what kicks you in the ass to make you do it.
HENRY MILLER
attributed, The Harper Book of Quotations
Motive is a thread, work is a skein, destiny is a maze.
THOMAS ROBERT SLICER
Meditations
Not without a shudder may the human hand grasp the mysterious urn of destiny.
FRIEDRICH SCHILLER
The Death of Wallenstein
The real test of a man is not how well he plays the role he has invented for himself, but how well he plays the role that destiny assigned to him.
JAN PATOCKA
attributed, In Pursuit of Destiny