Alexander Pope Quotes

Two urns on Jove's high throne have ever stood, the source of evil one, and one of good; from thence the cup of mortal man he fills, blessings to these, to those distributes ills; to most he mingles both.

Heaven from all creatures hides the book of Fate.

Some say that we shall never know, and that to the gods we are like the flies that the boys kill on a summer's day, and some say, to the contrary, that the very sparrows do not lose a feather that has not been brushed away by the finger of God.

Look now how mortals are blaming the gods, for they say that evils come from us, but in fact they themselves have woes beyond their share because of their own follies.

Seth's quote from his book: "And if I only could I'd make a deal with God and I'd get Him to swap our places" -"Running up that Hill" by Kate Bush

What the morrow's years might bring 'twas sin for man to know.

He who falls, falls by his own will, and he who stands, stands by God's will.

Similarly, knowledge of the future was incompatible with free will. What made it possible for me to exercise freedom of choice also made it impossible for me to know the future. Conversely, now that I know the future, I would never act contrary to that future, including telling others what I know: those who know the future don't talk about it. Those who've read the Book of Ages never admit to it.

We create our fate every day . . . most of the ills we suffer from are directly traceable to our own behavior.

we all suffer in our different ways from being prisoners of birth.

Maybe we cannot escape from the destiny of the human, but we have a choice: to suffer our destiny or to enjoy our destiny.

The Rudderless World is not shaped by vague metaphysical Forces. It is not God who kills the Children. Not Fate that butchers them or Destiny that feeds them to the Dogs. ... It´s us. Only us.

God gives us what we want. For people who want nothing to do with peace, joy, reconciliation and peace... God will give you what you want. I see people make unbelievably destructive choices.

What happened was no accident. Everything was preordained. True, the will was free, but heaven also made its ordinances.

God writes the story of our lives with the pen strokes of our own free choices.

I agree we have enough books that attempt to explain why God allows suffering, presumably in a way that lets God off the hook. And while much smarter men than I have constructed elaborate systems in this pursuit, they are by definition exercises in speculation.

Take the good with the evil, for ye all are pensioners of God, and none may choose or refuse the cup His wisdom mixeth.

The Greek idea of fate is moira, which means "portion." Fate rules a portion of your life. But there is more to life than just fate. There is also genetics, environment, economics, and so on. So it's not all written in the book before you get here, such that you don't have to do anything. That's fatalism.

There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.

Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.

Fulfill thy fate! Be-do-bear-and thank God.

It is not given to our weak intellects to understand the steps of Providence as they occur: we comprehend them only as we look back upon them in the far-distant past.

God is not pre or post anything. He is present to everything. ... There is not predestination but destination, not predestiny but destiny. This follows from divine omniscience and eternity.

I really believe there's no such thing as accidents, only opportunities. God gives everyone the ingredients to a good, happy life. It's up to us to make the most of them.

Now the myths represent the Gods themselves and the goodness of the Gods subject always to the distinction of the speakable and the unspeakable, the revealed and the unrevealed, that which is clear and that which is hidden: since, just as the Gods have made the goods of sense common to all, but those of intellect only to the wise, so the myths state the existence of Gods to all, but who and what they are only to those who can understand.