60 Fate Quotes on Taking Control of the Thread of Your Life

If you feel like your life’s getting out of control, read these fate quotes that will help you retake the reins!

Many coincidences in life are just too good to be true. At the same time, we also go through a lot of things that are opposite of what we’ve planned. These situations—both good and bad—are what we can attribute to fate.

In its most basic definition, fate is the predetermined course of our life. No one knows who the main puppeteer of our lives is or if the concept of fate itself is true.

However, no matter what, we should remember that fate or not, destiny or not, coincidence or not, we control everything in our lives. 


From the good and the bad, our actions and decisions cause a domino effect on our lives and the lives of others.

We’ll never know what kind of outcome we’ll have, but let’s not leave anything up to fate. Read through our collection below if you need help figuring out how to go about life.

Start here.

And make sure to check out these destiny quotes and quotes to live by.

Best Fate Quotes

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

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

3. “Fate leads the willing and drags along the unwilling.” – Seneca

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

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

Famous Quotes About Fate

6. “We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, never to be undone.” – William James

7. “Fate throws fortune, but not everyone catches.” – Polish Proverb

8. “Love cannot save you from your own fate.” – Jim Morrison

9. “Fate is not quite as strange as it appears!” – John McLeod

10. “There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.” – Napoleone Bonaparte

Also read: Famous Quotes, Positive Quotes

Fate Quotes to Inspire You

11. “I am the master of my fate and the captain of my destiny.” – Nelson Mandela

12. “We create our fate every day we live.” – Henry Miller

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

14. “Ask not what tomorrow may bring, but count as a blessing every day that fate allows you.” – Horace

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

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

Also read: Inspirational Quotes

Positive Fate Quotes That Will Uplift You

17. “How a person masters his fate is more important than what his fate is.” – Wilhelm von Humboldt

18. “Maybe fate isn’t the pond you swim in but the fisherman floating on top of it, letting you run the line wild until you are weary enough to be reeled back in.” – Jodi Picoult

19. “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.” – Herman Hesse

20. “As we move through life, the force of fate creates events that we only appreciate when we reflect on our existence.” – Ronald Harmon

Wise Fate Quotes to Live By

21. “‘Amor fati’—love your fate, which is in fact your life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

22. “Fate—everything happens for a reason. And when fate happens, look for the good in it as it is there!” – Catherine Pulsifer

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

Meaningful Fate Quotes That Zoom in on Life

24. “Living an experience—a particular fate—is accepting it fully.” – Albert Camus

25. “Fate means seeing the hand of God move clearly through your life, even with your eyes closed.” – Rusty Fischer.

26. “Fate rules the affairs of mankind with no recognizable order.” – Seneca

27. “Many men would take the death sentence without a whimper to escape the life sentence which fate carries in her hand.” – T. E. Lawrence

28. “I did not direct my life. I didn’t design it. I never made decisions. Things always came up and made them for me. That’s what life is.” – B.F. Skinner

29. “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

30. “Fate is a train roaring down the track of life. Sometimes you step off the track, and unless you look back over your shoulder and see the train go roaring past, you don’t know what you missed.” – Brenda Warneka

Fate Quotes for Everyone Who Dreams of Finding True Love

31. “You don’t find love, it finds you. It’s got a little bit to do with destiny, fate, and what’s written in the stars.” – Anaïs Nin

32. “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

33. “Do you think the universe fights for souls to be together? Some things are too strange and strong to be coincidences.” – Emery Allen

34. “I wonder how many people don’t get the one they want, but end up with the one they’re supposed to be with.” – Fannie Flagg

35. “Maybe there isn’t such a thing as fate. Maybe it’s just the opportunities we’re given, and what we do with them. I’m beginning to think that maybe great, epic romances don’t just happen. We have to make them ourselves.” – Marissa Meyer

Also read: True Love Quotes

Short Fate Quotes to Shift Your Perspective

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

37. “Fate loves the fearless.” – James Russell Lowell

38. “Not even need and love can defeat fate.” – Ursula K. Le Guin

39. “Fate shuffles the cards and we play.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

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

Fate Quotes That Will Motivate You to Act

41. “If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.” – Charles Revson

42. “Remember upon the conduct of each depends on the fate of all.” – Alexander The Great

43. “Actions are the seed of fate, deeds grow into destiny.” – Harry S. Truman

44. “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

45. “There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life, and money and energy with. I can select what I can read, eat and study. I can choose how I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.” – Elizabeth Gilbert

Fate Quotes for Everyone Who Believes in Destiny

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

47. “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

48. “Fate shows a different face, the gulf between what we are and what we think we are.” – Stelios Ramphos

49. “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 fulfill our destiny, but our fate is sealed.” – Paulo Coelho

50. “When it comes to fate, you have to realize that it is different than destiny. Destiny is where things are predetermined and it doesn’t matter what you do in life, because you will never be able to change your ending, however, fate is what you will need to think about when it comes to your choices. When it comes to choices you will need to consider that you have some type of say in your fate—to a degree—but you don’t have any say in your destiny.” – Hamid Hacker

Fate Quotes That’ll Have Your Mind Reeling

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

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

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

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

Fate Quotes to Help You Change for the Better

55. “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

56. “It is a sign of all those cowards who say, ‘This is my bad luck and I will have to accept it.’ A positive thinker would say, ‘I will decide my fate and my own destiny.’” – Bill Mcdowell

57. “To simplify things down to their real essence, whenever things go wrong in our lives, whenever our plans go awry and the things we took for granted suddenly disappear, we have a very simple choice. We can either succumb to despair and assume the attitude of the put upon the victim, powerless to change our fate, or we can decide to turn the tragedy into an opportunity.” – Tony Clark

More Fate Quotes You Need to Read Today

58. “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

59. “Fate never knocks at the wrong door, dear. You just may not be ready to answer.” – Saralee Rosenberg

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

Do You Believe That You Have Control Over Your Life?

It’s no surprise that not everything goes our way. We can plan things thoroughly and keep an eye on every variable, but, in the end, something can still go wrong. This is because nothing in life is linear.

This is where fate comes into the picture. Whenever something comes into our lives that’s not part of our plans or expectations, we chuck it up to fate. But, every time this happens, should we just really leave it all to the unknown powers that are said to control our life and destiny?

Fate presents us with multiple opportunities and scenarios. However, it is still up to our free will to choose between right or wrong, up or down, or left or right. Remember that we must actively do our best to change ourselves for the better and shape our lives to be the way we want them to be.

We hope this list of quotes was able to give you an idea of the ins and outs of fate. Let this collection of fate quotes be your guide whenever you’re faced with difficult situations. Steer yourself in the direction you want it to go; after all, you can spin the yarn of your life in your own way.

What do you think of fate? What lessons did you learn from today’s collection? Comment below!

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Karen Danao

Hi, I’m Karen, a content curator and writer for Quote Ambition; I’m also a marketing and advertising professional. Beyond the keyboard and the screen, I’m someone who’s out to enjoy every bit that life has to offer!

Poetry, philosophy, history, and movies are all topics I love writing about! However, my true passion is in traveling, photography, and finding common ground to which everyone from different cultures can relate.

With the many places I’ve been to, I found that love, inspiration, and happiness are some things that bring people together. No matter how different we are on the outside, I’m a true believer that our emotions don’t lie; if you dig deep into our psyche, we’re all the same inside.

This belief was further amplified when I joined Quote Ambition. Through the quotes I’ve read, collected, organized, and written about, I found that humans are resilient, creative, and compassionate.

We take from each others’ hearts and courage, and it’s through our individual experiences that we learn how to rise above our challenges and pain. In so many ways, Quote Ambition is a platform that allows people from all over the world to gain the inspiration they need anytime, anywhere!

You can find me on MuckRack and LinkedIn.