Need Quotes re: Destiny

Cafe Society
#1

I have a friend who’s writing a story. She needs 2 quotes. The first quote should embody the idea that we’re completely in control of our destiny, there’s no such thing as fate, etc. The second quote should embody the idea that fate/destiny do play a role in our lives.

  1. The quotes do not have to be from Western literature or culture.

  2. The quotes should be something an erudite person would say. Something from “Wayne’s World” won’t cut it (no offense to “Wayne’s World” fans).

  3. The quotes should be related somehow, such as by the same author, or from the same book. The closer the quotes are related, the better.

  4. If we can find one single quote that can fulfill both ideas, depending on the context, that would be even better.

I was think about the “Life is a tale told by an idiot…” line from Hamlet for the first quote, but I don’t think that really fits the idea that we’re completely in control of our own destiny, and I wasn’t sure if there’s a second quote that could be pulled from the play.

So, I’m turning to the knowledgeable SDMB crew. Any ideas?

#2

From Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:

Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves…

#3

That’s a good one. Do you know if there’s a matching quote from Julius Caesar embodying the opposite idea?

#4

I have learned that if you must leave a place that you you have lived in and loved and all your yesterdays are buried deep – leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour, because it is dead. Passed years seem safe one, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance. The cloud clears as you enter it. I learned this, but like all people, I learned it late.
Beryl Markham, from West with the Night

#5

That’s a great quote also. Keep 'em coming. Thanks.

#6

From Whitman;

“O me! O life!.. of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless–of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.”

Or the Shakespeare it references;

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

#7

How about William Ernest Henley’s Invictus?

The early stanzas admit “the fell clutch of Circumstance” and “the bludgeonings of Chance.” The final stanza insists:

“It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.”

#8

Can you tell me what poem or play these are from? Thanks.