“
What can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.
”
”
Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)
“
Yes, the death of young men in battle is a tragedy - I’d lost four brothers, I didn’t need anybody to tell me that. A tragedy worthy of any number of laments - but theirs is not the worst fate. I looked at Andromache, who’d have to live the rest of her amputated life as a slave, and I thought: We need a new song.
”
”
Pat Barker (The Silence of the Girls (Women of Troy, #1))
“
The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity -even under the most difficult circumstances- to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
What a good thing, for instance, it was that one princess should sleep for a hundred years! Was she not saved from all the plague of young men who were not worthy of her? And did not she come awake exactly at the right moment when the right prince kissed her? For my part, I cannot help wishing a good many girls would sleep till just the same fate overtook them. It would be happier for them, and more agreeable to their friends.
”
”
George MacDonald (The Wise Woman and Other Stories)
“
The stars might have decided that you can never be mine,” Darius said roughly, refusing to move away from me. “But I am yours. No matter what. I don’t care where we end up or who we’re with, I’ll always be yours. And I’m going to fix the damage I did to us even if the stars don’t care. I’m going to prove to you that I could have been worthy of you if I’d just listened to my heart sooner.
”
”
Caroline Peckham (Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5))
“
Because in my heart I know I deserved the answer you gave me,” I replied honestly. “I wasn’t worthy of your love then and I’m still not worthy of it now. But if you gave me forever then I’d spend every second of it trying to be.
”
”
Caroline Peckham (Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5))
“
The universe is full of echoes and shadows, the afterimages and last words of dead civilizations that have lost the struggle against entropy. Fading ripples in the cosmic background radiation, it is doubtful if most, or any, of these messages will ever be deciphered. Likewise, most of our thoughts and memories are destined to fade, to disappear, to be consumed by the very act of choosing and living. That is not a cause for sorrow, sweetheart. It is the fate of every species to disappear into the void that is the heat death of the universe. But long before then, the thoughts of any intelligent species worthy of the name will become as grand as the universe itself.
”
”
Ken Liu (The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories)
“
I wasn’t worthy of your love then and I’m still not worthy of it now. But if you gave me forever then I’d spend every second of it trying to be.
”
”
Caroline Peckham (Cursed Fates (Zodiac Academy, #5))
“
You are worthy of a great life. Desire, dream and seek it.
”
”
Lailah Gifty Akita (Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind)
“
Life, death, preservation, loss, failure, success, poverty, riches, worthiness, unworthiness, slander, fame, hunger, thirst, cold, heat - these are the alternations of the world, the workings of fate. Day and night they change place before us, and wisdom cannot spy out their source. Therefore, they should not be enough to destroy your harmony; they should not be allowed to enter the storehouse of the spirit. If you can harmonize and delight in them, master them and never be at a loss for joy; if you can do this day and night without break and make it be spring with everything, mingling with all and creating the moment within your own mind - this is what I call being whole in power.
”
”
Zhuangzi (The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu)
“
As if Mitchell needed another reminder that Julie wasn't the woman for him, fate delivered.
Julie snored.
Not a cute little snuffle either, but snorts worthy of an overweight truck driver named Bubba.
”
”
Lauren Layne (After the Kiss (Sex, Love & Stiletto, #1))
“
Many years before, Abacus had come to the conclusion that the greatest of heroic stories have the shape of a diamond on its side. Beginning at a fine point, the life of the hero expands outward through youth as he begins to establish his strengths and fallibilities, his friendships and enmities. Proceeding into the world, he pursues exploits in grand company, accumulating honors and accolades. But at some untold moment, the two rays that define the outer limits of this widening world of hale companions and worthy adventures simultaneously turn a corner and begin to converge. The terrain our hero travels, the cast of characters he meets, the sense of purpose that has long propelled him forward all begin to narrow—to narrow toward that fixed and inexorable point that defines his fate. Take the tale of Achilles. In hopes of making her son invincible, the Nereid Thetis holds her newborn boy by the ankle and dips him into the river Styx. From that finite moment
”
”
Amor Towles (The Lincoln Highway)
“
For anyone who has ever felt like they weren’t enough. You are more than enough. You are worthy. And you deserve the most wondrous things this bizarre and beautiful realm has to offer. You are loved.
”
”
Chiara Forestieri (A Kingdom of Blood and Magic (Hallowed Fates #1))
“
We, however, who must live in this time, wish to prove ourselves worthy, every day and every hour, of the gifts which Fate has given us, through the fact that it sent us the Führer, to start with, and after two thousand years, who was, we might say, sent by God. As German men and German women, we wish to be thankful that we were born in precisely this age, that we are able to live in this age.
”
”
Heinrich Himmler
“
How do you greet a god? If there’s an etiquette guide for that, I haven’t read it. I’m never sure if I’m supposed to shake hands, kneel, or bow and shout, “We’re not worthy!” I knew Hermes better than most of the Olympians. Over the years, he’d helped me out several times. Unfortunately last summer I’d also fought his demigod son Luke, who’d been corrupted by the Titan Kronos, in a mortal combat smack-down for the fate of the world. Luke’s death hadn’t been entirely my fault, but it still put a damper on my relationship with Hermes. I decided to start simple. “Hi.
”
”
Rick Riordan (The Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries)
“
The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most diffcult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a diffcult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
A human being is not one thing among others; things determine each other, but man is ultimately self-determining. What he becomes—within the limits of endowment and environment—he has made out of himself. In the concentration camps, for example, in this living laboratory and on this testing ground, we watched and witnessed some of our comrades behave like swine while others behaved like saints. Man has both potentialities within himself; which one is actualized depends on decisions but not on conditions.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
Faced as we are with this destiny, there is only one world. Outlook that is worthy of us, that which has already been mentioned as the Choice of Achilles — better a short life, lull of deeds and glory, than a long life without content. Already the danger is so great, for every individual, every class, every people, that to cherish any illusion whatever is deplorable. Time does not suffer itself to be halted; there is no question of prudent retreat or wise renunciation. Only dreamers believe that there is a way out. Optimism is cowardice.
”
”
Oswald Spengler (Man and Technics: A Contribution to a Philosophy of Life)
“
A famous poem of Sa‘dī states: The children of Adam are members of a single body, For from the moment of creation they were made of one substance. When fate causes pain in any member, The other members cannot remain still. O thou who hath no sorrow in seeing the sorrow of others, Thou art not worthy of being called a human being.
”
”
Seyyed Hossein Nasr (The Garden of Truth: Knowledge, Love, and Action)
“
We choose this. This place. This life. What it will be, and how we live it. We are not slaves to gods, or fate, or destinies woven in veils of smoke. We choose the people we want to be, and we choose the shape of the world in which we live. Nothing worthwhile comes without sacrifice. There is nothing so easy as swimming with the current, nothing so difficult as being the first to stand up. To say no. To point at a thing wrong and name it so. There are none so brave as those who choose to stand, when all others are content to kneel. None so worthy of the title 'hero' as those who fight when there are none to see it. Who choose a life bereft of accolade or fanfare, a life of struggle for the idea that we are all the same. Every one of us. And every one of us has the right to be happy. To know peace. To know love.
”
”
Jay Kristoff (Endsinger (The Lotus Wars, #3))
“
Do not try to impress anyone by showing them how worthy you can be, always be yourself and let fate speak for you.
”
”
Deborah Nwakwesili.
“
Loving her in secret was becoming his new favorite thing.
”
”
Dannika Dark (The Thief (Black Arrowhead #4))
“
Do that again.”
“Do what again?”
“Laugh,” he breathed.
”
”
A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
“
And then there was Ryker, Lord of Oryn, who had shadows that could kill a person without him so much as moving.
”
”
A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
“
You’re the one who made her like this. Freya used to be a good and loyal woman.” “She still is. You’re just no longer worthy of her loyalty.
”
”
Danielle L. Jensen (A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated, #1))
“
We're mortal, yet without a known expiration date. It's an inevitable fate worthy of acceptance, but not deserving of predictions.
”
”
Joe Peterson
“
We have been called by God; we must live life worthy of our calling.
”
”
Lailah Gifty Akita (Think Great: Be Great! (Beautiful Quotes, #1))
“
Adena deserves a fairytale fate, a life worthy of her light. And that means I should stay as far away from it as possible.
”
”
Lauren Roberts (Powerful (The Powerless Trilogy, #1.5))
“
I’m not worthy of becoming her demise. Adena deserves a fairy-tale fate, a life worthy of her light. And that means I should stay as far away from her as possible.
”
”
Lauren Roberts (Powerful (The Powerless Trilogy, #1.5))
“
His face fell. “Do that again.” “Do what again?” “Laugh,” he breathed.
”
”
A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
“
I’m not setting my sights on anyone. Theodora is the only one worthy of my desire. I couldn’t set my sights on anybody else if I tried. She and I are fated somehow.
”
”
Aurora Reed (Spearcrest Saints (Spearcrest Kings, #3))
“
You wrote to me. Do not deny it. I’ve read your words and they evoke My deep respect for your emotion, Your trusting soul… and sweet devotion. Your candour has a great appeal And stirs in me, I won’t conceal, Long dormant feelings, scarce remembered. But I’ve no wish to praise you now; Let me repay you with a vow As artless as the one you tendered; Hear my confession too, I plead, And judge me both by word and deed. 13 ’Had I in any way desired To bind with family ties my life; Or had a happy fate required That I turn father, take a wife; Had pictures of domestication For but one moment held temptation- Then, surely, none but you alone Would be the bride I’d make my own. I’ll say without wrought-up insistence That, finding my ideal in you, I would have asked you—yes, it’s true— To share my baneful, sad existence, In pledge of beauty and of good, And been as happy … as I could! 14 ’But I’m not made for exaltation: My soul’s a stranger to its call; Your virtues are a vain temptation, For I’m not worthy of them all. Believe me (conscience be your token): In wedlock we would both be broken. However much I loved you, dear, Once used to you … I’d cease, I fear; You’d start to weep, but all your crying Would fail to touch my heart at all, Your tears in fact would only gall. So judge yourself what we’d be buying, What roses Hymen means to send— Quite possibly for years on end! 15 ’In all this world what’s more perverted Than homes in which the wretched wife Bemoans her worthless mate, deserted— Alone both day and night through life; Or where the husband, knowing truly Her worth (yet cursing fate unduly) Is always angry, sullen, mute— A coldly jealous, selfish brute! Well, thus am I. And was it merely For this your ardent spirit pined When you, with so much strength of mind, Unsealed your heart to me so clearly? Can Fate indeed be so unkind? Is this the lot you’ve been assigned? 16 ’For dreams and youth there’s no returning; I cannot resurrect my soul. I love you with a tender yearning, But mine must be a brother’s role. So hear me through without vexation: Young maidens find quick consolation— From dream to dream a passage brief; Just so a sapling sheds its leaf To bud anew each vernal season. Thus heaven wills the world to turn. You’ll fall in love again; but learn … To exercise restraint and reason, For few will understand you so, And innocence can lead to woe.
”
”
Alexander Pushkin (Eugene Onegin)
“
Considering she’d conjured him, she supposed he should be drool-worthy. After all, he was the closest thing to a long term relationship she’d ever had, despite him totally being a figment.
”
”
Kelly Moran (Bewitched (Fated, #1))
“
For a man who is "nobly born," happiness lies in taking on the fate of everyman; not through a desire for renunciation but a will to happiness. To be happy, you need time. Lots of time. Happiness too is a long patience. And it is the need for money that robs us of time. Time can be bought. Everything can be bought. To be rich means having time to be happy when you are worthy of happiness.
”
”
Albert Camus (Notebooks 1935-1942)
“
I held my head high and kept my eyes forward as I made my way to Morah. I would not cower in fear of the Lords and Ladies. I would not hide what I had accomplished.
Let them see that I am Worthy
”
”
A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
“
People create their worlds with the tools they have directly at hand. Faulty tools produce faulty results. Repeated use of the same faulty tools produce the same faulty results. It is in this manner that those who fail to learn from the past doom themselves to repeat it. It’s partly fate. It’s partly inability. It’s partly… unwillingness to learn? Refusal to learn? Motivated refusal to learn?
”
”
Jordan B. Peterson (12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos)
“
The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
I can’t change the past. All I can do is tell you how sorry I am, beg your forgiveness, and promise to spend the rest of my life trying to be worthy of you … Because I am yours, even if you are not mine.
”
”
K.A. Tucker (A Dawn of Gods & Fury (Fate & Flame, #4))
“
Nor must you make such an exordium, as the Cyclic writer of old: "I will sing the fate of Priam, and the noble war." What will this boaster produce worthy of all this gaping? The mountains are in labor, a ridiculous mouse will be brought forth.
”
”
Horatius (Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry))
“
Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of my day. After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and me, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and me at least try to make a small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.
”
”
Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)
“
He struggles to understand why fate has spared him and not so many others. Was it to know happiness? His happiness will never be complete. To know love? He will never be sure of being worthy of love. A part of him is still back there, on the other side, where the dead deny the living the right to leave them behind. His recovery will be a road into exile, a journey in which the touch of the woman he loves will matter less than the image of his grandmother buried under a mountain of ashes.
”
”
Elie Wiesel (Day (The Night Trilogy, #3))
“
Christian meets two more ill-fated pilgrims as he continues his expedition down the King's Highway. His ability to discern a false pilgrim has been advanced since his experience with Simple, Sloth, and Presumption.
Christian immediately focuses on three things that seem out of place. First, the tumbling over the wall called Salvation without coming through Christ, the narrow gate, or experiencing any illumination by the Holy Spirit immediately warns Christian that these are trespassers. Second, their testimony of having come from the land of Vain-Glory warns Christian that they are neither humble nor burdened by sin. Third, their wish to arrive at Mt. Zion to receive praise rather than to give praise to the only one worthy of praise alarms Christian. Christian quickly discerns that the motives of Formalist and Hypocrisy are unworthy and contemptuous.
Formalist
”
”
John Bunyan (The Pilgrim's Progress: From This World to That Which Is to Come)
“
To be so at one with one's own destiny that no one will be able to tell the dancer from the dance, that the answer to the question, Who are you? will be the Cardinal's answer, "Allow me ... to answer you in the classic manner, and to tell you a story," is the only aspiration worthy of the fact that life has been given us. This is also called pride, and the true dividing line between people is whether they are capable of being"in love with {their} destiny" or whether they "accept as success what others warrant to be so ... at the quotation of the day. They tremble, with reason, before their fate.
”
”
Isak Dinesen (Daguerreotypes and Other Essays)
“
The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity - even under the most difficult circumstances - to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl
“
An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art, or nature. But there is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in man's attitude to his existence, an existence restricted by external forces. A creative life and a life of enjoyment are banned to him. But not only creativeness and enjoyment are meaningful. If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.
The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity-even under the most difficult circumstances- to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified, and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
Do not think that these considerations are unworldly and too far removed from real life. It is true that only a few people are capable of reaching such high moral standards. Of the prisoners only a few kept their full inner liberty and obtained those values which their suffering afforded, but even one such example is sufficient proof that man's inner strength may raise him above his outward fate. Such men are not only in concentration camps. Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance of achieving something through his own suffering.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
I love you, Kya...I love you beyond the bond. I have loved you since you accepted me back in Ilrek and I think I loved you even before that. I will follow you to the end of time and protect you until my last breath. I will stand beside you even if the realms burn. And I will love you until they are nothing but ashes among the stars.
”
”
A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
“
I was losing control of myself. I reached for her mind. I hated violating her like this, but I needed to know that she was okay. What I found was beautiful and terrifying, so much confidence and strength it was intimidating. But it was also anguished. Then, suddenly, the flow of feelings stopped. Her focus shifted. She could sense something.
Me.
”
”
A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
“
Again, enthusiastic would incorrectly label me as a warmonger or battle junkie,” Ortiz said. “I am a warrior and a soldier. If there’s to be a knock-down drag-out match for our right to exist, then yes… I want to be at the tip of the spear. “Can none of you see it? Win or lose, we’re living in legendary times. Our actions will determine the fate of our entire species, and the choices we make, or don’t make, will ring through history for centuries. So no, I am not enthusiastic, but I am willing to accept the challenge that’s been given us. What is the point of being alive if only to exist and consume? The universe has asked if we are worthy. How will we answer that question? That’s all I’m saying.
”
”
Joshua Dalzelle (Call to Arms (Black Fleet Trilogy, #2))
“
After so many years, I had started to doubt it would ever happen. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes at the overwhelming sensation. I felt the connection snap into place like it was always meant to be there, a perfect fit to a piece of my soul that I never realized was missing. Until now. And now that it was suddenly ingrained into everything that I was, I couldn’t imagine living without it. The bond.
My mate.
”
”
A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
“
I didn’t ask to be born into this life, to become who I was. Fate was a cruel force beyond my comprehension. Inescapable and ruthless, caring for nothing but its own will. I didn’t fear death. I pressed against it, waiting to be pushed into the endless void of the After. I walked the shadowed line, always teetering on the edge of life. No, I didn’t fear death. It had always followed me. What I did fear was life. However short it may be…
”
”
A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
“
It was highly fatalistic, but its fatalism was not one of complacency. It saw life as being ultimately doomed to tragedy, but with the opportunity for grand and noble heroism along the way. The Vikings sought to seize that opportunity, to accomplish as much as they could - and be remembered for it - despite the certainty of the grave and "the wolf." How one met one's fate, whatever that fate happened to be, was what separated honorable and worthy people from the dishonorable and the unworthy. Norse religion and mythology were thoroughly infused with this view. The gods, the "pillars" who held the cosmos together, fought for themselves and their world tirelessly and unflinchingly, even though they knew that in the end the struggle was hopeless, and that the forces Of chaos and entropy would prevail. They went out not with a whimper, but with a bang. This attitude is what made the Vikings the Vikings.
”
”
Daniel McCoy (The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion)
“
Look, look,’ the count continued, grasping each of the two young men by the hand. ‘Look, because I swear to you, this is worthy of your curiosity. Here is a man who was resigned to his fate, who was walking to the scaffold and about to die like a coward, that’s true, but at least he was about to die without resisting and without recriminations. Do you know what gave him that much strength? Do you know what consoled him? Do you know what resigned him to his fate? It was the fact that another man would share his anguish, that another man was to die like him, that another man was to die before him! Put two sheep in the slaughter-house or two oxen in the abattoir and let one of them realize that his companion will not die, and the sheep will bleat with joy, the ox low with pleasure. But man, man whom God made in His image, man to whom God gave this first, this sole, this supreme law, that he should love his neighbour, man to whom God gave a voice to express his thoughts – what is man’s first cry when he learns that his neighbour is saved? A curse. All honour to man, the masterpiece of nature, the lord of creation!’ He
”
”
Alexandre Dumas (The Count of Monte Cristo)
“
The way in which man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity - even under the most difficult circumstances - to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified, and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for man either to make use of or forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his suffering or not.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl
“
The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the
suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his
cross, gives him ample opportunity - even under the
most difficult circumstances - to add a deeper meaning
to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish.
Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget
his human dignity and become no more than an animal.
Here lies the chance for a man either to make use
of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral
values that a difficult situation may afford him. And
this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or
not.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not. Do not think that
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and me, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and me at least try to make a small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.
”
”
Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)
“
There is an odd psychology amongst those who inherit great wealth, because deep down inside, they realize that they did nothing to earn it, that it really was just a matter of luck, and yet how can it be that they are not special? My father suffers from this malady. “I have all this,” the thinking goes, “ergo I must be somehow superior.” This leads to a constant internal battle to maintain the false narrative of somehow “deserving” all these riches, of being “worthy.” You push away the obvious truth—that fate and happenstance have more to do with your lot in life than your “brilliance” or “work ethic”—so as not to shatter your self-created myth.
”
”
Harlan Coben (Win (Windsor Horne Lockwood III, #1))
“
Chivalry looks good on you, ma'alor," he said, brushing a dark curl out of Robb's face. "And I hate that I like it."
"Your flattery will only get you so far," Robb joked, trying to grin, but it turned sour and bitter. "I like you, but I have no right to say that. For what my mother did--for what I did. But...if there was a way for you to forgive me, no matter how long it takes, would you let me? Will you let me try to be worthy of you?"
The question took Jax by surprise.
He sat back, quite unable to find a response.
I've seen you stars, he wanted to say, and this is impossible.
All his life he'd thought that all fates flowed in a continuous, never-ending river, but now the current was disrupted, the path unsettled. They had changed the stars, and he was falling in love with a boy who should have died.
Robb shifted, uncomfortable. "Or--or if you don't feel the same way--"
"I'm sorry," Jax began, but when he looked into Robb's eyes, there were tears there. Alarmed, he quickly added, "No, no! That's not what I meant! I don't mean--"
"I knew you wouldn't. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Tears curved down Robb's cheeks, and almost exasperated, Jax wiped them away.
"I can't LIE, you insufferable Ironblood," he chided. "I'm apologizing because I can't forgive you right now, but that doesn't mean I don't want to kiss you, ma'alor. And it doesn't mean I don't like you. I do. I like you, but do you really want ME? Someone who can't touch other people? That's my reality. I'll never kiss you without seeing your fate. I'll never touch you without seeing how you'll die. Am I someone you could be happy with?"
Robb's brow furrowed. "Screw fate. I'll tear down the stars for you."
For HIM? Even though Jax had to wear gloves, and could never brush his lips against Robb's jawline without seeing the stars, never kiss Robb's ears, or traced the lines of his body, or feel the heat that pulsed just beneath his skin, hot and red and wanting. Jax felt his throat tighten as tears pooled at the edges of his eyes. He didn't cry. He never cried.
Robb took Jax's hand, and kissed his gloved knuckles. "And lucky for you," Robb added, "I'm not planning to ever die, so you don't have to worry about my stars."
He laughed. "You make being mad at you hard, ma'alor."
"I plan on making it impossible," replied Robb, and raised an eyebrow. "What does ma'alor mean?"
Jax chewed on his bottom lip. 'It means..." But he couldn't bear that sort of embarrassment, so he simply leaned into the Ironblood and kissed him. Savoring the moment, the unknowingness of it all.
Until new images came flooding across his senses like a wave of darkness across the stars.
”
”
Ashley Poston (Heart of Iron (Heart of Iron, #1))
“
An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art, or nature. But there is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in man’s attitude to his existence, an existence restricted by external forces. A creative life and a life of enjoyment are banned to him. But not only creativeness and enjoyment are meaningful. If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
Is this dying? he asked himself, and knew that it was. But I don't want to die this way! Not spewing and airless, soiled and incapable of disciplining my unruly body to get the business over and done with in admirable control and a decent meed of Roman dignity. I was the uncrowned King of Rome. I was crowned with the grass of Nola. I was the greatest man between the Rivers of Ocean and Indus. Let my dying be worthy of all these things! Let it not be a nightmare of blood, speechlessness, fear!
He thought of Julilla, who had died alone in a welter of blood. And of Nicopolis, who had died with less blood but more agony. And of Clitumna, who had died with broken neck and broken bones. Metellus Numidicus, scarlet in the face and choking-I did not know how awful that is! Dalmatica, crying out his name in Juno Sospita. His son, the light of his life, Julilla's boy who had meant more to him than anyone else ever, ever, ever... He too had died an airless death.
I am afraid. So afraid! I never thought I would be. It is inevitable, it cannot be avoided, it is over soon enough, and I will never see or hear or feel or think again. I will be no one. Nothing. There is no pain in that fate. It is the fate of a dreamless ignorance. It is eternal sleep. I, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, who was the uncrowned King of Rome yet crowned with the grass of Nola, will cease to be except in the minds of men. For that is the only immortality, to be remembered in the world of the living.
”
”
Colleen McCullough (Fortune's Favorites (Masters of Rome, #3))
“
all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and me, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and me at least try to make a small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.
”
”
Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)
“
What can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.” - Kazuo Ishiguro
”
”
Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)
“
If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not.
”
”
Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)
“
Anyway, there is an essential difference in gender that isn't politically correct to mention these days. Women are the ones to bear the children after all. They are the ones to nurse. They are the ones, traditionally, who care for the infants. That takes a huge amount of time.'
He smiled, waiting for the applause, but something had gone wrong. There was a cold silence from the crowd...
'Did you just say that women aren't creative geniuses because they have babies?'
'No," he said, 'No. Not because. I wouldn't say that. I love women, and not all women have babies. My wife, for one, at least not yet. But listen, we're all given a finite amount of creativity, just like we;re given a finite amount of life, and if a woman continues to spend hers creating actual life and not imaginary life, that's a glorious choice. When a woman has a baby, she's creating so much more than just a world on the page, she's creating life itself, not just a simulacrum. No matter what Shakespeare did, it's so much less than your average illiterate woman of his age who had babies. Those babies were our ancestors, necessary to make everyone here today, and no one could seriously argue that any play is worth a single human wife. I mean the history of the stage supports me here. If women have historically demonstrated less creative genius than men, it's because they're making their creations internal, spending the energies on life itself. It's a kind of bodily genius. You can't tell me that isn't at least as worthy as genius of imagination. I think we can all agree that women are just as good as men, better in many ways. But the reason for the disparity in creation, is because women have turned their creative energies inward not outward.
”
”
Lauren Groff (Fates and Furies)
“
Now, why does Jesus benefit the human body? Of course, he does his miracle work to impress those around him--and they are impressed. They're amazed. But to show that he is the Messiah, why does Jesus cure infirmities and feed hungry stomachs? After all, he could soar like a bird, as the devil asked him to do, or, as he himself mentioned, he could go about casting mountains into seas. These too would be miracles worthy of a Messiah. Why body miracles?"
...
His wife answers her question. "Jesus performs these miracles because they bring relief where we want it most. We all suffer in our bodies and die. It is our fate--as you well know, my dear, spending your days cutting up human carrion. In curing and feeding us, Jesus meets us at our weakest. He eases us of our heavy burden of morality. And that impresses us more deeply than any other display of mighty power, be it flying in the air or throwing mountains into seas.
”
”
Yann Martel (The High Mountains of Portugal)
“
Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of my day. After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one’s life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least try to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepared to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.
”
”
Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)
“
It was fortunate for them that Ben Brace and Snowball had not trusted too much to fate while constructing their abnormal craft. The experienced sailor had foreseen the difficulties that on this day beset them; and, instead of making a mere temporary embarkation, to suit the conditions of the summer sea that then surrounded them, he had spared no pains to render it seaworthy as far as circumstances would allow. He and Snowball had used their united strength in drawing tight the cords with which the timbers were bound together,—as well as those that lashed them to the casks,—and their united skill in disposing the rude materials in a proper manner. Even after “launching” the Catamaran,—every day, almost every hour, had they been doing something to improve her,—either by giving the craft greater strength and compactness, or in some other way rendering her more worthy both of the sea and her sailors. By this providential industry they were now profiting: since by it, and it alone, were they enabled to “ride out” the gale.
”
”
Walter Scott (The Greatest Sea Novels and Tales of All Time)
“
Then Faust descends into the realm of the Mothers — the spiritual world; he succeeds in bringing up with him the spirit of Helena. But he is not ripe enough to unite this spirit with his own soul. Hence the scene where desire stirs in Faust, where he wishes to embrace the archetype of Helena with sensual passion. He is therefore thrust back. That is the fate of everyone who seeks to approach the Spiritual World harboring personal, egotistical feelings; he is repelled like Faust. He must first mature; must learn the real relationship between the three members of man's nature: the immortal spirit which goes on from life to life, from incarnation to incarnation; the body, commencing and ending its existence between birth and death, and the soul between the two of them. Body, soul and spirit — how they unite, how they mutually react — that is the lesson Faust must learn. The archetype of Helena, the immortal, the eternal, that passes from life to life, from one incarnation to the other, Faust has already tried to find, but was then immature. Now he is to become ripe so that he is worthy to truly penetrate into the spirit realm. For this purpose he had to learn that this immortality comes to man only when he can be re-embodied repeatedly within physical existence — have new lives extending from birth to death. Therefore must Goethe show how the soul lives between spirit and body, how the soul is placed between the immortal spirit and the body which exists only between birth and death. The second part of Faust shows us this.
Now can Goethe compress all that Faust has achieved since the time of premonitory striving, the time when he despaired of science and turned away from it, till he gained his highest degree of spiritual perception. This he does in the chorus mysticus which, by its name alone, indicates that it contains something very deep. Here, in this chorus, is to be condensed in few words — paradigmatically — that which offers the key to all the world mysteries: how everything temporal is only a symbolism for the eternal. What the physical eye can see is only a symbol for the spiritual, the immortal of which Goethe has shown that he, when entering into this spiritual realm, even gains the knowledge of reincarnation. He will finally show man's entrance into the spiritual kingdom coincides with the knowledge that what was premonition and hope in the physical is truth in the spiritual; what was aspiration in the physical becomes attainment in the spiritual world.
”
”
Rudolf Steiner
“
It is now some twenty minutes since the man left, but I have remained here on this bench to await the even that has just taken place- namely, the switching on of the pier lights. As I say, the happiness with which the pleasure-seekers gathering on this pier greeted this small event would tend to vouch for the correctness of my companion's words; for a great many people, the evening is the most enjoyable part of the day. Perhaps, then, there is something to his advice that I should cease looking back so much, that I should adopt a more positive outlook and try to make the best of what remains of my day. After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as we might have wished? The hard reality is, surely, that for the likes of you and I, there is little choice other than to leave our fate, ultimately, in the hands of those great gentlemen at the hub of this world who employ our services. What is the point in worrying oneself too much about what one could or could not have done to control the course one's life took? Surely it is enough that the likes of you and I at least *try* to make our small contribution count for something true and worthy. And if some of us are prepares to sacrifice much in life in order to pursue such aspirations, surely that is in itself, whatever the outcome, cause for pride and contentment.
”
”
Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)
“
10. A wounded person might be saved but a
wounded person wouldn't heal that easily. ch 173 Pg 1999
11. s. I could hear a slight
creaking sound from Yoo Joonghyuk's body. His body was already at the
limit. Even so, Yoo Joonghyuk didn't give up. PG 2059
12. There is no magic that will heal all wounds just because
someone else has a deep wound as well. PG 2089
13. I will pull all of you down from that fucking heaven. PG 2192 CH 190
14. In a place they couldn't see, the story that was going to destroy them had
just begun PG2226
15. The most dangerous enemy is always the closest ally PG 2265
16. "Don't regard past failures as scriptures. There will be no change if you
don't do anything. PG 2299
17. Fight, fight and fight again PG2365
18.Fight, fight again and keep moving forward. It was the best mourning
possible for this guy's past. PG 2623
19. If that happens, I will destroy all the worlds that caused that Fate. PG 2676
20. "The scenario is a small destruction to prevent a greater destruction." PG 2802
21. This was Yoo Joonghyuk. He didn't give up on his goal even if he gave up his life.
22. "I felt it while living… life is supposed to be like this. There are times when nothing can be done and times when things don't work out. PG 2824
23. "I know that things don't work out well. Not everything will flow as you wish. Even so, don't dwell on it too much and let your heart lead you." PG 2827
24. In order to hold that spear, Yoo Joonghyuk trained with a single focus for decades.PG 3470
25.Don't be fooled by what you see! Believe in yourself, not the myths already recorded! Pg 3685
26.there is no good or evil. There is only our desire to see the story pg 3690
27. Are all failed stories meaningless? Even if you know you will fail, isn't the story of those who have fought to the end worth it? PG3706
28. It
was a dependable tone. I really wanted a father like this. 3719
29. Then I looked around and saw Han Sooyoung dangling her
legs while sucking candy.
I scolded Han Sooyoung, "Is it delicious?"
"Strangely, I've been craving something sweet lately. Do you want to eat?"
Han Sooyoung didn't wait for my answer and shoved the candy she was
holding into my mouth.
It had a lemon flavour. I ate the candy and Han Sooyoung looked at me
quietly. "By the way, that's what I was eating."
"So?"
"…You are really no fun." Pg 3734
30. 'Yoo Joonghyuk' of the other rounds were watching us. Some looked
envious while others had gloomy expressions. Finally, there was one with
an expression of intrigue. Pg 3747
31. Sometimes the thing that looks like a road isn't a road pg3767
32. "Kim Dokja, you know you aren't a godlike person."
I smelt lemon candy from the grumbling voice. Han Sooyoung took the
brush from my hand in a frustrated manner.
"There are some things in the world you don't know about, you idiot. pg3792
33. [I think it will be hard to just send you away.]
[What bullshit is that?]
[If you are a demon king, you should be worthy. Isn't that right? pg 3844
”
”
shing shong
“
Often I gazed at you in wonder. I stood at the window begun yesterday,
stood and marvelled at you. Yet the new city
was denied me and the unpersuaded landscape
darkened, as though I were nothing. Nor did things close by
venture to be understood. The street thrust upwards
at the lamp post: I could see it was an alien thing.
Over there a room, sympathetic, clear in the lamplight –
I was already a part; this they sensed, closed the shutters.
Remained there. Then a child cried. I knew the mothers
in the houses around, of what they are capable – and I knew
at once the inconsolable argument behind all weeping.
Or a voice sang out and reached a little beyond
expectation, or down below an old man
who coughed full of reproach, as if his body
were in the right and the gentler world in error. Then the hour struck,
but I counted too late, it fell past me.
Like a boy, a stranger, at last deemed worthy to join in
yet drops the ball and knows none of the games
in which the others indulge with such ease,
stands there, looks away – to where?: I stood and suddenly
became aware, you approached me, played with me, I understood,
grown-up night, and I gazed at you enraptured. Where the towers
raged and, with fate averted, a city loomed over me
and before me were ranged unknowable mountains
and in the narrowing circle of hungering strangeness
welled the random flickering of my feelings
there it was, higher one,
no shame for you, that you know me. Your breath
passed over me, across widening solemn expanses
your smile entered into me.
”
”
Rainer Maria Rilke (Poems to Night)
“
Who can unravel destiny in the unpredictable twists of fate? I for one cannot, but I can say that I have clearly lived a life of purpose: to help secure the future of my ancient people who suffered so much and have contributed so much to humanity. This mission will continue to inspire me until the end of my days. I have been privileged to be guided by extraordinary parents, to be supported by a loving family, and to represent so many who shared my vision and followed me with open hearts through the turbulence of political life. But is there truly such a thing as a life of purpose? Every age has its Ecclesiastes and Lucretius, who tell us that all is ephemeral. “Vanity of vanity, all is vanity,”1 says the Bible. “What profit hath a man of all his labor which he hath taken under the sun?”2 Toward the end of his life, Will Durant, one of my favorite authors and a great admirer of the Jewish people, tried to comfort humanity by noting the value of human achievements, however temporary: We need not fret about the future… Never was our heritage of civilization and culture so secure, and never was it half so rich. We may do our little share to augment it and transmit it, confident that time will wear away chiefly the dross of it, and that what is finally fair and worthy in it will be preserved, to illuminate many generations.3 Durant was right. The rebirth of Israel is a miracle of faith and history. The Book of Samuel says, “The eternity of Israel will not falter.” Throughout our journey, including in the tempests and upheavals of modern times, this has held true. The People of Israel Live!
”
”
Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi: My Story)
“
This was certainly a fitting end to Valentine’s Day.” She slanted him a glance. “Tell me, was it really just chance that you drew my name at the ball?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know. Celia told me on the way home that she thought it was Fate.”
He arched one eyebrow. “Only if Fate’s helper is the Duke of Foxmoor. He rigged the drawing for me.”
To his surprise, she laughed. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself! I thought perhaps you’d spotted my name by chance, but deliberately cheating…You have no principles whatsoever, do you?”
“Not where you’re concerned,” he said.
That answer seemed to please her. Reassured of her ability to bewitch him, she stretched beside him like a cat, her full breasts moving enticingly under the sheet.
It roused him instantly. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, my dear.”
“Do what?” Her gaze was full of curiosity.
“Display yourself so deliciously. Or I’m going to make love to you again.”
A coy smile tipped up her lips. “Are you really?” She slid up next to him, her hand drawing a line down his bare chest in a motion worthy of the most experienced courtesan.
He caught her hand. “I mean it, minx. Don’t tempt me. I’ll have you on your back so fast you won’t know what happened.”
“And what would be wrong with that?”
He entwined his fingers with hers. Why couldn’t he stop touching her? “It was your first time. Your body needs to rest.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “I suppose I am a little sore.” She cast him a teasing glance. “Who could have known that making love would be so…vigorous? Or addictive?”
“You have no idea.” Already his cock was rock hard beneath the sheet. “But after we’re married, I’ll be happy to add to your store of experience.
”
”
Sabrina Jeffries (The Truth About Lord Stoneville (Hellions of Halstead Hall, #1))
“
THE INSTRUCTION OF PTAHHOTEP
Part II
If you are one among guests
At the table of one greater than you,
Take what he gives as it is set before you;
Look at what is before you,
Don’t shoot many glances at him,
Molesting him offends the ka.
Don’t speak to him until he summons,
One does not know what may displease;
Speak when he has addressed you,
Then your words will please the heart.
The nobleman, when he is behind food,
Behaves as his ka commands him;
He will give to him whom he favors,
It is the custom when night has come.
It is the ka that makes his hands reach out,
The great man gives to the chosen man;
Thus eating is under the counsel of god,
A fool is who complains of it.
If you are a man of trust,
Sent by one great man to another,
Adhere to the nature of him who sent you.
Give his message as he said it.
Guard against reviling speech,
Which embroils one great with another;
Keep to the truth, don't exceed it,
But an outburst should not be repeated.
Do not malign anyone,
Great or small, the ka abhors it.
If you plow and there’s growth in the field,
And god lets it prosper in your hand,
Do not boast at your neighbors’ side,
One has great respect for the silent man:
Man of character is man of wealth.
If he robs he is like a crocodile in court.
Don’t impose on one who is childless,
Neither decry nor boast of it;
There is many a father who has grief,
And a mother of children less content than another;
It is the lonely whom god fosters,
While the family man prays for a follower.
If you are poor, serve a man of worth,
That all your conduct may be well with the god.
Do not recall if he once was poor,
Don’t be arrogant toward him
For knowing his former state;
Respect him for what has accrued to him.
For wealth does not come by itself.
It is their law for him whom they love,
His gain, he gathered it himself ;
It is the god who makes him worthy
And protects him while he sleeps.
Follow your heart as long as you live,
Do no more than is required,
Do not shorten the time of “follow-the-heart,”
Trimming its moment offends the ka
Don’t waste time on daily cares
Beyond providing for your household;
When wealth has come, follow your heart,
Wealth does no good if one is glum!
If you are a man of worth
And produce a son by the grace of god,
If he is straight, takes after you,
Takes good care of your possessions.
Do for him all that is good,
He is your son, your ka begot him,
Don’t withdraw your heart from him.
But an offspring can make trouble:
If he strays, neglects your counsel,
Disobeys all that is said,
His mouth spouting evil speech,
Punish him for all his talk
They hate him who crosses you,
His guilt was fated in the womb;
He whom they guide can not go wrong,
Whom they make boatless can not cross.
If you are in the antechamber,
Stand and sit as fits your rank
Which was assigned you the first day.
Do not trespass — you will be turned back,
Keen is the face to him who enters announced,
Spacious the seat of him who has been called.
The antechamber has a rule,
All behavior is by measure;
It is the god who gives advancement,
He who uses elbows is not helped.
If you are among the people,
Gain supporters through being trusted
The trusted man who does not vent his belly’s speech,
He will himself become a leader,
A man of means — what is he like ?
Your name is good, you are not maligned,
Your body is sleek, your face benign,
One praises you without your knowing.
He whose heart obeys his belly
Puts contempt of himself in place of love,
His heart is bald, his body unanointed;
The great-hearted is god-given,
He who obeys his belly belongs to the enemy.
”
”
Miriam Lichtheim (Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms)
“
She started to head out, but she passed her room. It was the same as she'd left it: a pile of cushions by her bed for Little Brother to sleep on, a stack of poetry and famous literature on her desk that she was supposed to study to become a "model bride," and the lavender shawl and silk robes she'd worn the day before she left home. The jade comb Mulan had left in exchange for the conscription notice caught her eye; it now rested in front of her mirror.
Mulan's gaze lingered on the comb, on its green teeth and the pearl-colored flower nestled on its shoulder. She wanted to hold it, to put it in her hair and show her family- to show everyone- she was worthy. After all, her surname, Fa, meant flower. She needed to show them that she had bloomed to be worthy of her family name.
But no one was here, and she didn't want to face her reflection. Who knew what it would show, especially in Diyu?
She isn't a boy, her mother had told her father once. She shouldn't be riding horses and letting her hair loose. The neighbors will talk. She won't find a good husband-
Let her, Fa Zhou had consoled his wife. When she leaves this household as a bride, she'll no longer be able to do these things.
Mulan hadn't understood what he meant then. She hadn't understood the significance of what it meant for her to be the only girl in the village who skipped learning ribbon dances to ride Khan through the village rice fields, who chased after chickens and helped herd the cows instead of learning the zither or practicing her painting, who was allowed to have opinions- at all.
She'd taken the freedom of her childhood for granted.
When she turned fourteen, everything changed.
I know this will be a hard change to make, Fa Li had told her, but it's for your own good. Men want a girl who is quiet and demure, polite and poised- not someone who speaks out of turn and runs wild about the garden. A girl who can't make a good match won't bring honor to the family. And worse yet, she'll have nothing: not respect, or money of her own, or a home. She'd touched Mulan's cheek with a resigned sigh. I don't want that fate for you, Mulan.
Every morning for a year, her mother tied a rod of bamboo to Mulan's spine to remind her to stand straight, stuffed her mouth with persimmon seeds to remind her to speak softly, and helped Mulan practice wearing heeled shoes by tying ribbons to her feet and guiding her along the garden.
Oh, how she'd wanted to please her mother, and especially her father. She hadn't wanted to let them down. But maybe she hadn't tried enough. For despite Fa Li's careful preparation, she had failed the Matchmaker's exam. The look of hopefulness on her father's face that day- the thought that she'd disappointed him still haunted her.
Then fate had taken its turn, and Mulan had thrown everything away to become a soldier. To learn how to punch and kick and hold a sword and shield, to shoot arrows and run and yell. To save her country, and bring honor home to her family.
How much she had wanted them to be proud of her.
”
”
Elizabeth Lim (Reflection)
“
Abacus had come to the conclusion that the greatest of heroic stories have the shape of a diamond on its side. Beginning at a fine point, the life of the hero expands outward through youth as he begins to establish his strengths and fallibilities, his friendships and enmities. Proceeding into the world, he pursues exploits in grand company, accumulating honors and accolades. But at some untold moment, the two rays that define the outer limits of this widening world of hale companions and worthy adventures simultaneously turn a corner and begin to converge. The terrain our hero travels, the cast of characters he meets, the sense of purpose that has long propelled him forward all begin to narrow—to narrow toward that fixed and inexorable point that defines his fate.
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Amor Towles (The Lincoln Highway)
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It is your job to realize you are the master of your fate and that you are accepting the love you think you're worthy of.
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Brianna Wiest (When You're Ready, This Is How You Heal)
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End be your time, a trade in kind, a life well-lived for peace to find. Be not afraid, as shadows fade, all pain and woe shall be unmade. Now fate well-sealed shall be revealed, for those whose worthy souls shall yield. In love and calm, this holy psalm, shall guide your soul to realm beyond.
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Penn Cole (Spark of the Everflame (Kindred's Curse, #1))
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This is when our people, the true and worthy Gifted, come together most. We're pissed, hungry for retribution. For answers but it’s more than that. It’s the matter of fate. Fate is what we’re made of. Fate of a Royal, or was it Fate of a Faux?
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Meagan Brandy (Fate of a Faux (Lord of Rathe Duet #2))
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True love is ultimately the granting of full subjectivity to the Other, which demands that each lover maintain enough of a separate identity to serve reciprocally as an object for transcendence and surrender. The lover must not only have the capacity to idealize the be- loved; he must also hold himself worthy as an object for idealization.
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Ethel Spector Person (Dreams of Love and Fateful Encounters: The Power of Romantic Passion)
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True love is ultimately the granting of full subjectivity to the Other, which demands that each lover maintain enough of a separate identity to serve reciprocally as an object for transcendence and surrender. The lover must not only have the capacity to idealize the beloved; he must also hold himself worthy as an object for idealization.
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Ethel Spector Person (Dreams of Love and Fateful Encounters: The Power of Romantic Passion)
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When the prodigal son returned home and fell into the arms of his father, I’m sure the boy felt afraid. We can tell by how he immediately speaks of his unworthiness: “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”*26 This wayward son has fallen into the hands of his father; his fate is in his father’s hands…and he is afraid. But there is no better place to be!
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Brian Zahnd (Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God: The Scandalous Truth of the Very Good News)
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Adrian entered her as a candidate for the next training program without consulting her. Elv went to the first session to tell Adrian to mind her own business, then she saw the dog that was supposed to be hers. Once again, it was the ugliest. A standard poodle that had been scalded with boiling water, tied up in a dark room for months. “I don’t know about this one,” Adrian told her. “In all honesty, it might be better to put it out of its misery.” The poodle was hiding under a chair, shaking. Its teeth were chattering. Elv sat on the chair where the poodle was hiding. She didn’t know why she was allowed to be alive. Maybe that was her fate, to know she wasn’t worthy of anything and yet be given another chance. “Fine,” she said to Adrian. “I’ll stay.
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Alice Hoffman (The Story Sisters)
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Apart from Kallenbach, Gandhi had also written about his new friend to his Tamil protégé C. Rajagopalachari (popularly known as Rajaji). Gandhi’s letter has been lost, but we do have fragments of Rajaji’s reply. Where Mahadev was approving of, or at least acquiescent in, the development of the relationship, Rajaji was dismayed. In his letter, Gandhi seems to have suggested that Sarala and he were thinking of taking the friendship a step further. What this was is not clear—perhaps a public proclamation of their ‘spiritual marriage’? Rajaji wrote back that this would bring ‘unutterable shame and ruin’ to Gandhi, and destroy ‘all saintliness, all purity, all asceticism, all India’s hope’.
That Gandhi had even contemplated such a step filled his protégé with horror. ‘How could you venture out,’ wrote Rajaji agitatedly, ‘when in your boat was the faith and fate of millions of simple souls who if the boat had capsized would have seen neither beauty nor love nor grandeur, but unspeakable shame and death.’
Rajaji had met Saraladevi briefly, and been unimpressed. ‘I fail to see any “greatness” in the lady,’ he wrote to Gandhi. ‘She is like a hundred other women, whom a little education makes very attractive. I have seen scores of bigger-minded [and] better-souled women.’ Rajaji thought Saraladevi was ‘not worthy to unloose the latchet of Miss Faring [a Danish missionary who admired Gandhi and joined the ashram] and as to Mrs Gandhi, it would be like comparing a kerosene oil Ditmar lamp to the morning sun...'
Rajaji chastised Gandhi, but blamed Saraladevi too. ‘It is difficult to forgive her reckless indifference to consequences,’ he remarked. He advised Gandhi to ‘pray disengage yourself at once completely: No delay is allowable when you hold such great trusts’ (namely, the fate of the nation itself).
This was a brave and necessary letter: brave because few of Gandhi’s Indian admirers ever criticized him directly; necessary because Gandhi does not seem to have recognized the enormous risks of the step he was contemplating. Gandhi’s asceticism was a vital part of his mass appeal. Although polygamy was allowed under Hindu law, Hindu myths and Hindu social custom were both strongly in favour of monogamous marriages. Had Gandhi publicly taken another wife, albeit even a ‘spiritual’ one, it might have massively eroded his standing among his fellow Hindus, endangering the wider movement for political and social change that he was leading.
Gandhi was taken aback by Rajaji’s forthrightness, and he did heed his advice—in part. He would not publicly take Saraladevi as his spiritual wife, but he would not—or not yet—disengage from her completely.
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Ramachandra Guha (Gandhi 1915-1948: The Years That Changed the World)
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Even when the lover has clearly been betrayed, he may willfully distort his perceptions in order to preserve the illusion that his love is ongoing and unthreatened, for it is the locus of his hopes and ambitions, it is his raison d’être. If he acknowledges that their love is transient or his lover less than worthy, then he fears his feelings were without foundation.
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Ethel Spector Person (Dreams of Love and Fateful Encounters: The Power of Romantic Passion)
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I stopped struggling when I felt a tug. That unmistakable feeling deep inside and the shadow that would always find me. A malicious grin crossed my lips when the ground shook as he landed behind me, shadowing us with his spread wings.
My mate.
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A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
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Say it,” I breathed. I needed to hear it. I could never hear it enough.
His voice was low and lethal. “You belong to me.
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A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
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Yeah, yeah. Pigeon boy has been stalking her for a while and now they’re cozy, but what is going on here?
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A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
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azidis believe that before God made man, he created seven divine beings, often called angels, who were manifestations of himself. After forming the universe from the pieces of a broken pearl-like sphere, God sent his chief Angel, Tawusi Melek, to earth, where he took the form of a peacock and painted the world the bright colors of his feathers. The story goes that on earth, Tawusi Melek sees Adam, the first man, whom God has made immortal and perfect, and the Angel challenges God’s decision. If Adam is to reproduce, Tawusi Melek suggests, he can’t be immortal, and he can’t be perfect. He has to eat wheat, which God has forbidden him to do. God tells his Angel that the decision is his, putting the fate of the world in Tawusi Melek’s hands. Adam eats wheat, is expelled from paradise, and the second generation of Yazidis are born into the world. Proving his worthiness to God, the Peacock Angel became God’s connection to earth and man’s link to the heavens. When we pray, we often pray to Tawusi Melek, and our New Year celebrates the day he descended to earth.
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Nadia Murad (The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State)
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Yazidis believe that before God made man, he created seven divine beings, often called angels, who were manifestations of himself. After forming the universe from the pieces of a broken pearl-like sphere, God sent his chief Angel, Tawusi Melek, to earth, where he took the form of a peacock and painted the world the bright colors of his feathers. The story goes that on earth, Tawusi Melek sees Adam, the first man, whom God has made immortal and perfect, and the Angel challenges God’s decision. If Adam is to reproduce, Tawusi Melek suggests, he can’t be immortal, and he can’t be perfect. He has to eat wheat, which God has forbidden him to do. God tells his Angel that the decision is his, putting the fate of the world in Tawusi Melek’s hands. Adam eats wheat, is expelled from paradise, and the second generation of Yazidis are born into the world. Proving his worthiness to God, the Peacock Angel became God’s connection to earth and man’s link to the heavens. When we pray, we often pray to Tawusi Melek, and our New Year celebrates the day he descended to earth.
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Nadia Murad (The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State)
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Tell me about the third test,” she said, spinning and kicking near my face as I ducked. “The third test is a mystery. All we know is that when the Worthy return from the third test, they are accompanied by a Spirit animal.
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A.N. Caudle (Worthy of Fate (Realms in Peril, #1))
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These three parts—likeness, commitment, and metrics—comprise a company’s purpose. Companies that aspire to positive impact must never leave their purpose to chance. Worthy purposes rarely emerge inadvertently; the world is too full of mirage, paradox, and uncertainty to leave this to fate. Purpose must be deliberately conceived and chosen, and then pursued.
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Clayton M. Christensen (How Will You Measure Your Life?)
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It is your job to realize that you are the master of your fate, and that you are accepting the love you think you’re worthy of.
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Brianna Wiest (When You're Ready, This Is How You Heal)
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Only a male would think that cum is a worthy gift. What the actual fuck?
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Miranda Bridges (Sacrifice (Brides for the Houses of Fate, #1))
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Goodbye, Theo. May the fates decide I'm worthy of you and bring you back to me. It has always been you and will always be you.
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L.B. August (In The Shadows (The Amari, #1))
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Freya used to be a good and loyal woman.” “She still is. You’re just no longer worthy of her loyalty.
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Danielle L. Jensen (A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated, #1))
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Often I gazed at you in wonder. I stood at the window begun yesterday,
stood and marvelled at you. Yet the new city
was denied me and the unpersuaded landscape
darkened, as though I were nothing. Nor did things close by
venture to be understood. The street thrust upwards
at the lamp post: I could see it was an alien thing.
Over there a room, sympathetic, clear in the lamplight –
I was already a part; this they sensed, closed the shutters.
Remained there. Then a child cried. I knew the mothers
in the houses around, of what they are capable – and I knew
at once the inconsolable argument behind all weeping.
Or a voice sang out and reached a little beyond
expectation, or down below an old man
who coughed full of reproach, as if his body
were in the right and the gentler world in error. Then the hour struck,
but I counted too late, it fell past me.
Like a boy, a stranger, at last deemed worthy to join in
yet drops the ball and knows none of the games
in which the others indulge with such ease,
stands there, looks away – to where?: I stood and suddenly
became aware, you approached me, played with me, I understood,
grown-up night, and I gazed at you enraptured. Where the towers
raged and, with fate averted, a city loomed over me
and before me were ranged unknowable mountains
and in the narrowing circle of hungering strangeness
welled the random flickering of my feelings – :
there it was, higher one,
no shame for you, that you know me. Your breath
passed over me, across widening solemn expanses
your smile entered into me.
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Rilke Maria Rainer
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Was it fate, you think, that we encountered each other in Rifthold without recognizing the other?”
“Fate, or luck?” She gestured to the battlefield, her wrecked city. “This is a far grander setting for our final confrontation, don’t you think? Far more worthy of us.
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Sarah J. Maas (Kingdom of Ash (Throne of Glass, #7))
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Clydinius believed Fae were not worthy of the greatness we gifted them, for it was wasted and spoiled in the hands of your kind, every empire rising only to surely fall. So Clydinius came to the Court of Caelestina where the fates are woven thread by thread, and destiny spins upon a coin of iron. There, he spoke treasonous words, expressing the very desire which could unbalance the bedrock of the world. Clydinius wished for us all to descend from the heavens, to claim a place upon the earth and walk among the Fae as gods. In response to this declaration, Arcturus of the Sixth House cast Clydinius from the sky, where only one fate awaited him. Or so we thought. For we were fooled… Clydinius had wished for this all along, and instead of releasing his powers upon impact with the earth, Clydinius made a deal with a Fae, breaking all the laws of old and blaspheming against the teachings of the Origin.” “The Origin?” Tory questioned. “The Origin is the beginning and end of all things. She is the giver of life, of fate, of all reality. She is the oldest star in our universe, a creator and destroyer. She set the laws of reality itself.
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Caroline Peckham (Sorrow and Starlight (Zodiac Academy, #8))
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You are responsible for your actions, but not always the result of that action. You have the power to make attempts to influence your fate but not always in control of what eventually happens. If you made mistakes on your part, learn from them, but stop blaming yourself for the mistakes you never made. As long as you know in your heart that you did absolutely everything under your control, you are someone worthy of admiration.
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Anubhav Srivastava (Inspirational Sayings: Get Super Motivated and Achieve Amazing Success through Inspirational Sayings!)
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An active life serves the purpose of giving man the opportunity to realize values in creative work, while a passive life of enjoyment affords him the opportunity to obtain fulfillment in experiencing beauty, art, or nature. But there is also purpose in that life which is almost barren of both creation and enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behavior: namely, in man’s attitude to his existence, an existence restricted by external forces. A creative life and a life of enjoyment are banned to him. But not only creativeness and enjoyment are meaningful. If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete. The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity—even under the most difficult circumstances—to add a deeper meaning to his life. It may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to forgo the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not. Do not think that these considerations are unworldly and too far removed from real life. It is true that only a few people are capable of reaching such high moral standards. Of the prisoners only a few kept their full inner liberty and obtained those values which their suffering afforded, but even one such example is sufficient proof that man’s inner strength may raise him above his outward fate. Such men are not only in concentration camps. Everywhere man is confronted with fate, with the chance of achieving something through his own suffering.
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Viktor E. Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning)