Quotes About Fate

For each man his day stands fixed. For all mankind the days of life are few, and not to be restored. But to prolong fame by deeds, that is valour's task. (Hercules to Pallas)

The last day has come for our Dardan land. This is the hour which no effort of ours can alter. We Trojans are no more: no more is Ilium;no more the splendour of Teucrian glory. All now belongs to Argos; it is Jupiter's remorseless will.

At puer Ascanius, cui nunc cognomen Iulo additur,---Ilus erat, dum res stetit Ilia regno,--- triginta magnos volvendis mensibus orbis imperio explebit, regnumque ab sede Lavini transferet, et longam multa vi muniet Albam.

1.--ARMA virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris Italiam, fato profugus, Laviniaque venit litora, multum ille et terris iactatus et alto vi superum saevae memorem Iunonis ob iram; multa quoque et bello passus, dum conderet urbem, inferretque deos Latio, genus unde Latinum, Albanique patres, atque altae moenia Romae.

Illa dolos dirumque nefas in pectore versat, certa mori, varioque irarum fluctuat aestu.

Et pater Anchises passis de litore palmis numina magna vocat, meritosque indicit honores: 'Di, prohibete minas; di, talem avertite casum, et placidi servate pios!

Musa, mihi causas memora, quo numine laeso, quidve dolens, regina deum tot volvere casus insignem pietate virum, tot adire labores impulerit. Tantaene animis caelestibus irae? New vocabulary:

How fortunate were you, thrice fortunate and more, whose luck it was to die under the high walls of Troy before your parents' eyes!

Haec finis Priami fatorum; hic exitus illum sorte tulit, Troiam incensam et prolapsa videntem Pergama, tot quondam populis terrisque superbum regnatorem Asiae.  Iacet ingens litore truncus, avolsumque umeris caput, et sine nomine corpus.

His accensa super, iactatos aequore toto Troas, reliquias Danaum atque immitis Achilli, arcebat longe Latio, multosque per annos errabant, acti fatis, maria omnia circum. Tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem!

Ille admirans venerabile donum fatalis virgae, longo post tempore visum, caeruleam advertit puppim, ripaeque propinquat.

Death twitches my ear. Live, he says. I am coming.

In foribus letum Androgeo:  tum pendere poenas Cecropidae iussi---miserum!---septena quotannis corpora natorum; stat ductis sortibus urna.

He vivido mi vida, el noble curso / que me abrió la Fortuna he recorrido, / y ahora mi jornada bajo tierra emprendo, magna sombra. 950-955

Absumptae in Teucros vires caelique marisque.

Heu, miserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas, tu Marcellus eris. Manibus date lilia plenis, purpureos spargam flores...» «O giovane degno di pietà, se solo tu potessi rompere il tuo fato crudele, tu sarai Marcello. Versate gigli a piene mani, che io sparga fiori purpurei...»

Inde datum molitur iter.  Iamque arva tenebant ultima, quae bello clari secreta frequentant. Hic illi occurrit Tydeus, hic inclutus armis Parthenopaeus et Adrasti pallentis imago; hic multum fleti ad superos belloque caduci Dardanidae, quos ille omnes longo ordine cernens ingemuit

We make our destiny by our choice of the gods.

Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,               atque metus omnis et inexorabile fatum subiecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis auari. Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,               atque metus omnis et inexorabile fatum subiecit pedibus strepitumque Acherontis auari. (on Lucretius)

Quisque suos patimur manes.

madam, the man cried, leaping to the ground, you're hurt! I'm dead, sir! she replied. A few minutes later, they became engaged.

He turned from the sight of human ignorance and human fate and the sea eating the ground we stand on, which, had he been able to contemplate it fixedly might have led to something; and found consolation in trifles so slight compared with the august theme just now before him that he was disposed to slur that comfort over, to deprecate it, as if to be caught happy in a world of misery was for an honest man the most despicable of crimes.

Something irrevocable has happened. A circle has been cast on the waters; a chain is imposed. We shall never flow freely again.

It is the fate of the innocent to suffer.