John Henrik Clarke Quotes

Few men can control their own destinies—only the truly great.

Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter.

The question I'm always asking myself is: are we masters or victims? Do we make history, or does history make us? Do we shape the world, or are we just shaped by it? The question of do we have agency in our lives or whether we are just passive victims of events is, I think, a great question, and one that I have always tried to ask.

The future is in our hands; we are masters of our own destiny.

Control your destiny or somebody will.

How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is.

I'm not saying we have power over everything in our lives - if that were true, my hair would look so, so different - but I am saying that there's no circumstance in which we are completely powerless.

Human reason needs only to will more strongly than fate, and she is fate.

There is nothing happens to any person but what was in his power to go through with.

My fate cannot be mastered; it can only be collaborated with and thereby, to some extent, directed. Nor am I the captain of my soul; I am only its noisiest passenger.

I'd rather control someone than be controlled.

Men are not yet ready to shape their own destinies, to control and direct world events, of which -- instead -- they become the victims.

Does our hand show in this?

Man must assume responsibility for the direction of his life and destiny.

We try to separate the world into the stuff we can control and the stuff we can't.

All I know is that if we play well, we control our own destiny in terms of what we do.

I wanted to be in control of my own destiny.

I totally believe in opportunities. I don't believe in accidents. I just don't.

Men at some time are masters of their fates.

So our future is in our own hands. What greater free will do we need?

That’s what you taught me - we don’t have to accept destiny or Des Tiny. We can create our own future, all of us. We have the power to rule our lives - we just have to make the choice to use it.

I do not believe there ever was a man who was his own master, but that every man has a master of some kind or other.

No cause has he to say his doom is harsh, who's made the master of his destiny.

Necessity and chance Approach not me, and what I will is fate.

There are no mistakes or accidents. The present is malleable. Influence the odds. Free will is your pen, write your life.