90 Fate Quotes to Help You Take Control

These fate quotes will remind you to take each day one at a time and strive to make wise, kind choices at all times.

Whether they call it fate, destiny, or fortune, people have long been pondering the concept of how much control we have over our lives.

The heavy question of fate is imbued into works of art, poetry, novels, movies, and philosophical essays across cultures and eras.

Essentially, fate is defined as the ultimate path or outcome of our life story.

Do you ever wonder if you can control your fate?

Some argue that each person can set their own fate depending on the decisions they make throughout their life.

Others say that these decisions in themselves are pre-determined and that no one can decide their own fate, even if they try.

A select few believe that fate is inevitable, and while our actions do matter, ultimately choice is just an illusion.

The collection of quotes below present many different perspectives on fate.

We also have a curated list of quotes from the Alchemist that will inspire you to chase your dreams.

Don’t forget to also read that.

Check out our most popular quote article, a list of short inspirational quotes for daily inspiration. 

Our inspirational quotes category page has all of our motivational quotes for all the different areas of life.

Fate quotes about deciding your destiny

1.) “We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming – well, that’s like saying you can never change your fate.” – Amy Tan

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2.) “There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” – Albert Camus

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3.) “Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

4.) “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” – Buddha

5.) “When it comes to life, we spin our own yarn, and where we end up is really, in fact, where we always intended to be.” – Julia Glass

6.) “Every person has the power to change their fate if they are brave enough to fight for what they desire more than anything.” – Stephanie Garber

7.) “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” – William Shakespeare

8.) “For the sake of peace and justice, let us move toward a world in which all people are at last free to determine their own destiny.” – Ronald Reagan

9.) “Actions are the seed of fate. Deeds grow into destiny.” – Harry S. Truman

10.) “Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny.” – Bob Marley

11.) “It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” – Tony Robbins

12.) “Control your own destiny or someone else will.” – Jack Welch

13.) “Destiny is a worrying concept. I don’t want to be fated, I want to choose.” – Jeanette Winterson

14.) “It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.” – Henry David Thoreau

15.) “Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent’s fate.” – Sun Tzu

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of Sun Tzu quotes from the iconic warrior and philospher.

Ironic fate quotes about

16.) “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.” – Allen Saunders

17.) “Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like.” – Lemony Snicket

18.) “The world is made of spider webs. The threads are stuck to me and you. Be careful what you’re wishing for, ’cause when you gain you just might lose.” – Joan Osborne

19.) “Sometimes life has a cruel sense of humor, giving you the thing you always wanted at the worst time possible.” – Lisa Kleypas

20.) “All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.” – Seán O’Casey

21.) “You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it.” – Goldie Hawn

22.) “But what can be done, the one who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.” – Mikhail Bulgakov

23.) “It’s no use crying over spilt milk, because all of the forces of the universe were bent on spilling it.” – W. Somerset Maugham

24.) “Coincidences mean you’re on the right path.” – Simon Van Booy

25.) “Oh, I am fortune’s fool!” – William Shakespeare

26.) “Take it from me, Fate doesn’t care most of the time.” – Diana Wynne Jones

27.) “Life calls the tune, we dance.” – John Galsworthy

28.) “There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.” – Napoleon Bonaparte

29.) “When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade.” – Dale Carnegie

30.) “What do I know of man’s destiny? I could tell you more about radishes.” – Samuel Beckett

31.) “Sometimes it takes a wrong turn to get you to the right place.” – Mandy Hale

32.) “Irony is Fate’s most common figure of speech.” – Trevanian

Also read these motivational memory quotes that will help you create new and wonderful memories every day.

Fate quotes about knowing your destiny

33.) “There’s nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.” – John Lennon

34.) “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” – Marcus Aurelius

35.) “Some things are destined to be — it just takes us a couple of tries to get there.” – J.R. Ward

36.) “Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.” – Thomas Merton

37.) “I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.” – Hermann Hesse

38.) “Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing.” – Rick Riordan

39.) “I knew it like destiny, and at the same time, I knew it as choice.” – Jeanette Winterson

40.) “It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.” – Winston Churchill

41.) “Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

42.) “We are all subject to the fates. But we must act as if we are not, or die of despair.” – Philip Pullman

43.) “Perhaps Fate laid out your life for you like a dress on a bed, and you could either wear it or go naked.” – Laini Taylor

44.) “Stop longing. You poison today’s ease, reaching always for tomorrow.” – Robin Hobb

45.) “I’m not somebody that thinks about destiny and fate, but I don’t walk away from it when something unfolds.” – Angelina Jolie

46.) “Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

47.) “One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying.” – Joan of Arc

48.) “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Fate quotes about its inevitability

49.) “What’s meant to be will always find a way.” – Trisha Yearwood

50.) “Do not be afraid; our fate cannot be taken from us; it is a gift.” – Dante Alighieri

51.) “All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist.” – Kurt Vonnegut

52.) “Fate is never fair. You are caught in a current much stronger than you are; struggle against it and you’ll drown not just yourself but those who try to save you. Swim with it, and you’ll survive.” – Cassandra Clare

53.) “Whatever is going to happen will happen, whether we worry or not.” – Ana Monnar

54.) “Character is destiny.” – Heraclitus

55.) “If you try to cure evil with evil you will add more pain to your fate.” – Sophocles

56.) “My whole life has been pledged to this meeting with you.” – Alexander Pushkin

57.) “When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate.” – Carl Jung

58.) “Fate pulls you in different directions.” – Clint Eastwood

59.) “I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.” – Buddha

60.) “Remember, upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.” – Alexander the Great

More fate quotes

61. “We can’t choose our fate, but we can choose others. Be careful in knowing that.” – J.K. Rowling

62. “We are all of us born with a letter inside us, and that only if we are true to ourselves, may we be allowed to read it before we die.” – Douglas Coupland

63. “Many young men started down a false path to their true destiny. Time and fortune usually set them aright.” – Mario Puzo

64. “A man does not make his destiny: he accepts it or denies it.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

65. “Strange things conspire when one tries to cheat fate.” – Rick Riordan

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of cheating quotes that will empower you during this difficult time.

66. “Sometimes our fate is different from the one we imagined for ourselves.” – Jean Kwok

67. “Our eventual fate will be the sum of the stories we told ourselves long enough.” – Crystal Woods

68. Fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention.” – Amy Tan

69. “Fate already warned us to pack it in. We just didn’t hear it in time.” – Jonathan Tropper

70. “Sometimes God will place a wall on your path to force you to go in another direction.” – Suzy Kassem

Powerful fate quotes that will make you think

71. To live alone is the fate of all great souls.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

72. “I can control my destiny, but not my fate. Destiny means there are opportunities to turn right or left, but fate is a one-way street. I believe we all have the choice as to whether we fulfil our destiny, but our fate is sealed.” — Paulo Coelho

73. I will seize fate by the throat; it shall certainly never wholly overcome me.” — Ludwig van Beethoven

74. “Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him.” — Groucho Marx

75. “If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.” — Charles Revson

76. “I am the master of my fate and I am the captain of my boat. While ups and downs are a part of everyone’s journey, how you face it makes you the person or artiste you are.” — Jubin Nautiyal

77. “Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don’t find out til too late that he’s been playing with two queens all along.” — Terry Pratchett

78. “Fate loves the fearless.” — James Russell Lowell

79. “I’ve had a blessed life. I’ve pulled back from trying to control my destiny and gone back to accepting whatever fate has in store for me. I live for today because I don’t know what’ll happen tomorrow.” — Cilla Black

80. “We have become makers of our fate when we have ceased to pose as its prophets.” — Karl Popper

Fate Quotes To Guide You To Your Destiny

81. “Fate is not quite as strange as it appears!” — John McLeod

82. “We seal our fate with the choices we take, but don’t give a second thought to the chances we take.” — Gloria Estefan

83. “Oh, how sweet it is to pity the fate of an enemy who can no longer threaten us!” — Pierre Corneille

84. “You wait for fate to bring about the changes in life which you should be bringing about by yourself.” — Douglas Coupland

85. To keep our faces toward chance and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” — Helen Keller

86. Love cannot save you from your own fate.” — Jim Morrison

87. “The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the disenchantment of the world.” — Max Weber

88. “Not what we experience, but how we perceive what we experience, determines our fate.” — Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

89. “Fate makes us family. choice makes us friends.” — Mary Anne Radmacher

90. “Go with your fate, but not beyond. Beyond leads to dark places.” — Mary Renault

Who ultimately decides your fate?

While no living person can say for sure whether fate is predetermined or can be controlled, most people agree that it would be silly to think our choices don’t matter.

In fact, it could even be dangerous to think that our decisions are unimportant in the face of fate.

Our actions do have consequences, whether they reach us quickly or only seem to impact others.

Some of life’s events are outside of our control and can’t be predicted, prevented, or avoided.

Maybe this in itself is fate.

However, we can take each day one at a time and strive to make wise, kind choices at all times.

If that is controlling your fate, then it must be the best way to do so.

What’s your biggest takeaway from these fate quotes and sayings?

Do you have any other insightful quotes to add?

Let us know in the comment section below.