“Fate steals along with silent tread,
Found oftenest in what least we dread,
Frowns in the storm with angry brow,
But in the sunshine strikes the blow.”
"A Fable" (or "The Raven"), line 36.
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William Cowper 174
(1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist 1731–1800Related quotes
“It was fate, and being angry at fate was as futile as being angry at the weather.”
Source: Desolation Road (1988), Chapter 23 (p. 116).
The Thunder Rolls, written by G. Brooks and Pat Alger
Song lyrics, No Fences (1990)
(27th July 1822) Sketches from Drawings by Mr. Dagley. Sketch the First. Time arresting the Career of Pleasure.
The London Literary Gazette, 1821-1822
“What we usually mean by fate is what we least understand, that is to say, ourselves”
Kaddish for a Child Not Born (1990)
Context: What we usually mean by fate is what we least understand, that is to say, ourselves, that subversive, unknown individual constantly plotting against us, whom, estranged and alienated but still bowing with disgust before his might, we call, for the of simplicity, fate.
“We are sleeping on a volcano… A wind of revolution blows, the storm is on the horizon.”
Original text: Nous dormons sur un volcan… Ne voyez-vous pas que la terre commence à trembler. Le vent de la révolte souffle, la tempête est à l’horizon.
Speaking in the Chamber of Deputies just prior to to outbreak of revolution in Europe (1848).
1840s
Source: The Mass Psychology of Fascism (1933), p. 19
“We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds: we have been drenched by many storms”
Source: Letters and Papers from Prison (1967; 1997), Are we still of any use?, p. 16.
Context: We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds: we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straightforward men. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remoreseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness?