'T is an old tale and often told;

But did my fate and wish agree,

Ne'er had been read, in story old,

Of maiden true betray'd for gold,

That loved, or was avenged, like me.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Marmion. Canto ii. Stanza 27.

And binding Nature fast in fate,

Left free the human will.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Universal Prayer. Stanza 3.

Serenely full, the epicure would say,

Fate cannot harm me,—I have dined to-day.

Sydney Smith (1769-1845): Recipe for Salad. P. 374.

Who fears to speak of Ninety-eight?

Who blushes at the name?

When cowards mock the patriot's fate,

Who hangs his head for shame?

John K. Ingram (1820-1907): The Dublin Nation, April 1, 1843, Vol. ii. p. 339.

My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body

As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act i. Sc. 4.

Let him, oraculous, the end, the way,

The turns of all thy future fate display.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Odyssey of Homer. Book x. Line 642.

Each cursed his fate that thus their project crossed;

How hard their lot who neither won nor lost!

Richard Graves (1715-1804): The Festoon (1767).

That eagle's fate and mine are one,

Which on the shaft that made him die

Espied a feather of his own,

Wherewith he wont to soar so high.

Edmund Waller (1605-1687): To a Lady singing a Song of his Composing.

For we by conquest, of our soveraine might,

And by eternall doome of Fate's decree,

Have wonne the Empire of the Heavens bright.

Edmund Spenser (1553-1599): Faerie Queene. Book vii. Canto xi. St. 33.

In discourse more sweet;

For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense.

Others apart sat on a hill retir'd,

In thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high

Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,

Fix'd fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute;

And found no end, in wand'ring mazes lost.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book ii. Line 555.

Arms and the man I sing, who, forced by fate

And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Virgil, Aeneid, Line 1.

But life is sweet, though all that makes it sweet

Lessen like sound of friends' departing feet;

And Death is beautiful as feet of friend

Coming with welcome at our journey's end.

For me Fate gave, whate'er she else denied,

A nature sloping to the southern side;

I thank her for it, though when clouds arise

Such natures double-darken gloomy skies.

James Russell Lowell (1819-1891): To George William Curtis.

Sail on, O Ship of State!

Sail on, O Union, strong and great!

Humanity with all its fears,

With all the hopes of future years,

Is hanging breathless on thy fate!

Henry W Longfellow (1807-1882): The Building of the Ship.

For fate has wove the thread of life with pain,

And twins ev'n from the birth are misery and man!

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Odyssey of Homer. Book vii. Line 263.

He either fears his fate too much,

Or his deserts are small,

That dares not put it to the touch

To gain or lose it all.

Marquis Of Montrose (1612-1650): My Dear and only Love.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labour and to wait.

Henry W Longfellow (1807-1882): A Psalm of Life.

Here's a sigh to those who love me,

And a smile to those who hate;

And whatever sky's above me,

Here's a heart for every fate.

Lord Byron 1788-1824: To Thomas Moore.

Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate,

All but the page prescrib'd, their present state.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 77.

Perish that thought! No, never be it said

That Fate itself could awe the soul of Richard.

Hence, babbling dreams! you threaten here in vain!

Conscience, avaunt! Richard's himself again!

Hark! the shrill trumpet sounds to horse! away!

My soul's in arms, and eager for the fray.

Colley Cibber (1671-1757): Richard III. (altered). Act v. Sc. 3.

Beyond the limits of a vulgar fate,

Beneath the good how far,—but far above the great.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): The Progress of Poesy. III. 3, Line 16.

And every man, in love or pride,

Of his fate is never wide.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882): Nemesis.

The chamber where the good man meets his fate

Is privileg'd beyond the common walk

Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heaven.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 633.

The fool of fate,—thy manufacture, man.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Odyssey of Homer. Book xx. Line 254.

The glories of our blood and state

Are shadows, not substantial things;

There is no armour against fate;

Death lays his icy hands on kings.

James Shirley (1596-1666): Contention of Ajax and Ulysses. Sc. 3.

And not a man appears to tell their fate.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Odyssey of Homer. Book x. Line 308.

No one is so accursed by fate,

No one so utterly desolate,

But some heart, though unknown,

Responds unto his own.

Henry W Longfellow (1807-1882): Endymion.

A lucky chance, that oft decides the fate

Of mighty monarchs.

James Thomson (1700-1748): The Seasons. Summer. Line 1285.

The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers,

And heavily in clouds brings on the day,

The great, the important day, big with the fate

Of Cato and of Rome.

Joseph Addison (1672-1719): Cato. Act i. Sc. 1.

Of no distemper, of no blast he died,

But fell like autumn fruit that mellow'd long,—

Even wonder'd at, because he dropp'd no sooner.

Fate seem'd to wind him up for fourscore years,

Yet freshly ran he on ten winters more;

Till like a clock worn out with eating time,

The wheels of weary life at last stood still.

John Dryden (1631-1701): oedipus. Act iv. Sc. 1.

Fate sits on these dark battlements and frowns,

And as the portal opens to receive me,

A voice in hollow murmurs through the courts

Tells of a nameless deed.

Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod,—

The stamp of fate, and sanction of the god.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): The Iliad of Homer. Book i. Line 684.

A brave man struggling in the storms of fate,

And greatly falling with a falling state.

While Cato gives his little senate laws,

What bosom beats not in his country's cause?

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Prologue to Mr. Addison's Cato.

I 'll make assurance double sure,

And take a bond of fate.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Macbeth. Act iv. Sc. 1.

To bear is to conquer our fate.

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): On visiting a Scene in Argyleshire.

Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate,

Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 345.

This principle is old, but true as fate,—

Kings may love treason, but the traitor hate.

Thomas Dekker (1572-1632): The Honest Whore. Part i. Act iv. Sc. 4.

The chamber where the good man meets his fate

Is privileg'd beyond the common walk

Of virtuous life, quite in the verge of heaven.

Edward Young (1684-1765): Night thoughts. Night ii. Line 633.

To each his suff'rings; all are men,

Condemn'd alike to groan,—

The tender for another's pain,

Th' unfeeling for his own.

Yet ah! why should they know their fate,

Since sorrow never comes too late,

And happiness too swiftly flies?

Thought would destroy their paradise.

No more; where ignorance is bliss,

'T is folly to be wise.

Thomas Gray (1716-1771): On a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Stanza 10.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labour and to wait.

Henry W Longfellow (1807-1882): A Psalm of Life.