Richie Havens Quotes

How shall a man escape from that which is written; How shall he flee from his destiny?

There is a destiny that shapes our ends rough, hew them as we will.

Sometimes, what you do you have no control over because it's predestined. It's gonna happen in spite of you. There's nothing you can do about it.

I often feel, and ever more deeply I realize, that fate and character are the same conception.

There are three things we have no control over: our birth; our emotions, if we're sincere; and our death.

Men try to run life according to their wishes; life runs itself according to necessity.

No one can defy fate.

We like to believe we are in control of our destinies, even though we never are and we never have been.

No one can escape his destiny.

The ending is nearer than you think, and it is already written. All that we have left to choose is the correct moment to begin.

There's no escaping fate, it just keeps going. Day and night, the future just keeps coming at you.

Every moment in your life is a turning and every one a choosing. Somewhere you made a choice. All followed to this. The accounting is scrupulous. The shape is drawn. No line can be erased. I had no belief in your ability to move a coin to your bidding. How could you? A person's path through the world seldom changes and even more seldom will it change abruptly. And the shape of your path was visible from the beginning.

The future was with Fate. The present was our own.

I agree with Sophocles: the greatest luck is not to have been born - but, as the joke goes on, very few people succeed in it.

You're not always able to choose.

When dealing with a subject who is dead, you have this feeling of being God. You know who they're going to marry, when they're going to die. It's strange to feel so omniscient.

I'm a very big believer in fate.

The conundrum of free will and destiny has always kept me dangling.

When it's your time, it is your time.

Under the big political umbrella, a man is just like a leaf in the ocean, with no control of his destiny and does not have any choice.

We are all tied to our destiny and there is no way we can liberate ourselves.

Character and fate are two words for the same thing.

What do I know of man's destiny? I could tell you more about radishes.

For us, destiny always feels... if you obey, it's almost a passive thing.

You have a choice. Live or die. Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be.