Great Throughts Treasury

"Any conflict which prevents the personality from attaining wholeness is a hindrance: all taboos against considering any part of the universe in relation to man and his destiny are hindrances; so, too, are all restrictions upon the free use of reason, or the free appeal of conscience. In other words, any religion which is not an affirmation of the ultimate value of truth and knowledge, beauty and its expression, and goodness and moral action, which ever sets itself up against these, is in that respect a false, low and incomplete religion." - Julian Huxley, fully Sir Julian Sorell Huxley

"Biology… has thus revealed man’s place in nature. Hs is the highest form of life produced by the evolutionary process on this planet, the latest dominant type, and the only organism capable of further advance or progress. Whether he knows it or not, whether he wishes it or not, he is now the main agency for the further evolution of the earth and its inhabitants. In other words, his destiny is to realize new possibilities for the whole terrestrial sector of the cosmic process, to be the instrument of further evolutionary progress on this planet." - Julian Huxley, fully Sir Julian Sorell Huxley

"I believe in transhumanism”: once there are enough people who can truly say that, the human species will be on the threshold of a new kind of existence, as different from ours as our is from that of Peking man. It will at last be consciously fulfilling its real destiny." - Julian Huxley, fully Sir Julian Sorell Huxley

"The human species can, if it wishes, transcend itself… not just sporadically, an individual here in one way, an individual there in another way, but in its entirety, as humanity. We need a name for this new belief. Perhaps trans-humanism will serve: man remaining man, but transcending himself, by realizing new possibilities of and for his human nature… I believe in trans-humanism: once there are enough people who can truly say that, the human species will be on the threshold of a new kind of existence, as different from ours as ours is from that of Peking man. It will at last be consciously fulfilling its real destiny." - Julian Huxley, fully Sir Julian Sorell Huxley

"People are either driven to action or complacency, mission or rust. You’re either participating in the Game of Life or you’re watching it from the grandstands. Herein lies a crucial difference. A champion plays the game: a spectator observes, criticizes and never really gets to live. A champion knows what he or she wants and goes after it with carefully calculated goals and no-holds-barred action. A spectator feels that his or her life is not their own. They let others dictate their destiny. They become victims of life instead of masters of it.”" - Bruce Jenner, fully William Bruce Jenner

"We want to become masters of our own destiny. We need no gods and no emperors; we believe in no savior; we want to direct our own lives." - Wei Jingsheng or Jing-sheng

"A religion is the organized quest of a people for salvation, for helping those who live by the civilization of that people to achieve their destiny as human beings." - Mordecai Menaham Kaplan

"We are born into a world where alienation awaits us… Alienation as our present destiny is achieved only by outrageous violence perpetuated by human beings on human beings." -

"Going back to the origin is called peace; it means reversion to destiny. Reversion to destiny is called eternity. He who knows eternity is called enlightened." - Lao Tzu, ne Li Urh, also Laotse, Lao Tse, Lao Tse, Lao Zi, Laozi, Lao Zi, La-tsze

"The world? It is a territory under a curse, where even its pleasures carry with them their thorns and their bitterness… A place where hope, regarded as a passion so sweet, renders everybody unhappy; where those who have nothing to hope for, think themselves still more miserable, where all that pleases, pleases never for long; and where ennui is always most the sweetest destiny and the most supportable that one can expect in it." - Jean Baptiste Massillon

"Faith is the soul’s consciousness of its Divine relationship and exalted destiny." - George S. Merriam

"The road from discrete scientific observations to large-scale explanations of the origin and destiny of the universe always passes through political, social, religious, and cultural precincts." - Mark Noll, fully Mark A. Noll

"The destiny of Man is not limited to his existence on earth and he must never forget that fact. He exists less by the actions performed during his life than by the wake he leaves behind him like a shooting star." -

"The human mind must be subject to the general law… Its destiny can be nothing other than to exercise imagination, to invent, and to perfect. No; Men were not made to wander in the forests after the manner of bears and tigers." -

"Within the limits of the physical laws of nature, we are still masters of our individual and collective destiny, for good or ill." - E. F. Schumacher, fully Ernst Friedrich "Fritz" Schumacher

"We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart." - Walter Scott, fully Sir Walter Scott,1st Baronet

"Control your destiny or someone else will." - Noel M. Tichy and Stratford Sherman

"Man is asked to make of himself what he is supposed to become to fulfill his destiny." -

"Not what you do, but how you do what you do determines whether you are fulfilling your destiny. And how you do what you do is determined by your state of consciousness." - Eckhart Tolle, born Ulrich Leonard Tolle

"Our destiny, our being’s heart and home, is with infinitude, and only there." - William Wordsworth

"In the life of all men, each has his own destiny. With a steady heart and a broad mind, why should I be afraid?" - Ch’u Yuan, courtesy name Yanhui, formerly Duke Wenjian of Nankang

"I have always preferred the agony of losing a certain destiny in order to find my true self. Shipwrecked in a hollow, unauthentic world, I prefer to advance staggeringly toward the authenticity of life, even though it might lead me only toward the authenticity of my own death." -

"Dreams show us how to find meaning in our lives, how to fulfill our own destiny, how to realize greater potential of life within us." - Marie-Louise von Franz

"Violence attempts to constrain the other's freedom, to force him to act in the way we desire, but with ultimate lack of concern, with indifference to the other's own existence or destiny." -

"We are, all of us, molded and remolded by those whom we have loved. And though that love may pass, we remain nevertheless their work – a work which very likely they do not recognize and which is never exactly what they intend. No love, no friendship, will ever cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark upon it forever." -

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be truly happy will be those who have sought and found how to serve." - Albert Schweitzer

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." -

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." -

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." -

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." -

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." - Agnes George de Mille

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." -

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." -

"Destiny is consistently in our own hands. We did not create the choices, but we certainly have the power to exercise them. We did not make God, but we certainly know Him. We did not make Love, but we can certainly become it." - Alan Cohen

"You are privileged to participate in the transformation of consciousness on the planet earth. This is the most cherishable and glorious destiny of all." - Alan Cohen

"To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny." - Alan Cohen

"Destiny is consistently in our own hands. We did not create the choices, but we certainly have the power to exercise them. We did not make God, but we certainly know Him. We did not make Love, but we can certainly become it." -

"You are privileged to participate in the transformation of consciousness on the planet earth. This is the most cherishable and glorious destiny of all." -

"To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny." -

"Destiny is consistently in our own hands. We did not create the choices, but we certainly have the power to exercise them. We did not make God, but we certainly know Him. We did not make Love, but we can certainly become it." -

"You are privileged to participate in the transformation of consciousness on the planet earth. This is the most cherishable and glorious destiny of all." -

"To grow, you must be willing to let your present and future be totally unlike your past. Your history is not your destiny." -

"The essence of dramatic tragedy is not unhappiness. It resides in the solemnity of the remorseless working of things. This inevitableness of destiny can only be illustrated in terms of human life by incidents which in fact involve unhappiness. For it is only by them that the futility of escape can be made evident in the drama." - Alfred North Whitehead

"Destiny: A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure." - Ambrose Gwinett Bierce

"It's not what's happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you're going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny." - Anthony "Tony" Robbins

"It takes solitude, under the stars, for us to be reminded of our eternal origin and our far destiny." - Archibald Rutledge

"My own view of history is that human beings do have genuine freedom to make choices. Our destiny is not predetermined for us; we determine it for ourselves." - Arnold J. Toynbee, fully Arnold Joseph Toynbee

"Brave men earn the right to shape their own destiny." - Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr., born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger

"[Man’s] self-conscious existence as man forces on him a choice of uses for his faculties... This choice is what is called free will. Free will, therefore, not only a prerogative but an obligation for man. Free will thus understood, has nothing to do with destiny. It is a power which man is compelled by his own nature to use, whether the use he makes of it is predestined or not... the responsibility of deciding rests with me just the same whether the outcome is predetermined or not. If it is predetermined, it is my own past habit-forming and character-forming decisions in this and previous lifetimes which have predetermined it; and this decision in its turn will help to condition my mind, thus determining future ones." - Arthur W Osborn

"On realizing one’s true Self one does not change into a different being but simply realizes that one is not a being at all but simply “Being”; one attains freedom from identification with this or any other body-mind complex. The speeding arrow of karma may hit the body, but one is not the body. The body is subject to karma but the pure being of one’s Self is not... A Realized Man sees repercussions that could be called destiny overtaking the body that he occupies, but it does not occur to him that they concern him, and therefore he feels no emotion towards them. His body is subject to destiny, but he is not." - Arthur W Osborn