Rex Stout Quotes

He left it in thy power, ordaind thy will By nature free, not over-rul'd by Fate Inextricable, or strict necessity.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if the women don't get you then the whiskey must.

One of Satan's most deceptive and powerful ways of defeating us is to get us to believe a lie. And the biggest lie is that there are no consequences to our own doing. Satan will give you whatever you ask for if it will lead you where he ultimately wants you.

The mystery of existence is the connection between our faults and our misfortunes.

I don't know that I believe that God is in control of everything that happens. As a Jew, I believe that we have free will and we are responsible for our actions. But I guess it's something I'm still probing.

We have to believe in free will. We’ve got no choice.

Circumstances are beyond the control of man; but his conduct is in his own power.

Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.

When a man arrives at great prosperity God did it: when he falls into disaster he did it himself.

All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.

No destiny attacks us from outside. But, within him, man bears his fate and there comes a moment when he knows himself vulnerable; and then, as in a vertigo, blunder upon blunder lures him.

Whosoever obeyeth the devil, casteth himself down: for the devil may suggest, compel he cannot.

We make our fortunes and we call them fate.

We suffer from the evils which we, by our own free will, inflict on ourselves and ascribe them to God, who is far from being connected with them!

According to the Bible, God created the heavens and the Earth. It is man’s prerogative - and woman’s - to create their own particular and private hell.

Destiny bears us to our lot, and destiny is perhaps our own will.

There is also an age-old excuse: “The devil made me do it.” Not so! He can deceive you and mislead you, but he does not have the power to force you or anyone else to transgress or to keep you in transgression.

We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, never to be undone.

Freedom is based on the anarch’s awareness that he can kill himself. He carries this awareness around; it accompanies him like a shadow that he can conjure up. “A leap from this bridge will set me free.

A man can't be taken to hell, or sent to hell: you can only get there on your own steam.

Eve didn't choose to eat the apple. She was tempted by the serpent." "Yes," I argue, thoughts coming out half-formed. "But...she didn't have to take a bite. She chose to.

Destiny planned out, I don't need no hand out.

How rash to assert that man shapes his own destiny. All he can do is determine his inner responses.

Nobody is ever sent to Hell: he or she insists on going there.

Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things.