G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist
Illustrated London News (29 April 1922)
Thoughts on Man's Purpose in Life (1974)
Context: I believe it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world depended on him. Admittedly, on man by himself cannot do the job. However, one man can make a difference. Each of us is obligated to bring his individual and independent capacities to bear upon a wide range of human concerns. It is with this conviction that we squarely confront our duty to prosperity. We must live for the future of the human race, and not of our own comfort or success.
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English mystery novelist and Christian apologist
Illustrated London News (29 April 1922)
Gautama Buddha (-563–-483 BC) philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism
G. K. Chesterton, in "On Holland" in Illustrated London News (29 April 1922)
Misattributed
Jonathan Haidt (1963) American psychologist
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion (2012)
Charles Bowen (1835–1894) English judge
Jones v. Merionethshire Permanent Benefit Building Society (1891), L. R. 1 C. D. [1892], p. 183.
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)
The third and fourth sentences are a paraphrase of a sentence by G. K. Chesterton: "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." Generally Speaking, "On Holland' (1928).
1980s, First term of office (1981–1985), First Inaugural address (1981)
Context: It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams. We're not, as some would have us believe, doomed to an inevitable decline. I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. So, with all the creative energy at our command, let us begin an era of national renewal. Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.
Francis Scott Key (1779–1843) American lawyer and poet
Speech before the Colonization Society https://books.google.com/books?id=AoS2cqFQCSoC&pg=PA50
Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
Janusz Korczak (1878–1942) Polish physician and writer
Source: Warsaw Ghetto Memoirs of Janusz Korczak
Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936) 19th-20th century Spanish writer and philosopher
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), X : Religion, the Mythology of the Beyond and the Apocatastasis