It seems that it had been destined before that I should occupy myself so thoroughly with the vulture, for it comes to my mind as a very early memory, when I was still in the cradle, a vulture came down to me, he opened my mouth with his tail and struck me a few times with his tail against my lips.

The will is a beast of burden. If God mounts it, it wishes and goes as God wills; if Satan mounts it, it wishes and goes as Satan wills; Nor can it choose its rider… the riders contend for its possession.

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.

Know that as a Christian, your destiny is to be Christlike in all of your ways.

If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.

I think, in many people’s minds, the Confederate battle flag is not only a memorial to our ancestors, which is perfectly OK, but also a symbol of white superiority and an inclination for people to believe that even slavery would’ve been OK.

The bluebird carries the sky on his back.

Yesterday’s just a memory, tomorrow is never what it’s supposed to be.

The unyielding resistance of the Cuban patriots is symbolized by our 5 Heroes. They shall never back down! They shall never surrender!

I decided, very early on, just to accept life unconditionally; I never expected it to do anything special for me, yet I seemed to accomplish far more than I had ever hoped. Most of the time it just happened to me without my ever seeking it.

A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

The progress of India is the destiny of one-sixth of humanity. And it will also mean a world more confident of its prosperity and more secure about its future.

I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‚Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.‘

I had been told from school onwards that the best definition of a human being was man the tool-maker – yet I had just watched a chimp tool-maker in action. I remember that day as vividly as if it was yesterday.

Darn the wheel of the world! Why must it continually turn over? Where is the reverse gear?

It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory.

There is no such thing as accident; it is fate misnamed.

I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood.

The symbolism of the climate strike is that if you adults don’t give a damn about my future, I won’t either.

I never had to choose a subject – my subject rather chose me.

I remember at the age of five travelling on a trolley car with my mother past a group of women on a picket line at a textile plant, seeing them being viciously beaten by security people. So that kind of thing stayed with me.

Men do not shape destiny, Destiny produces the man for the hour.

The way of the Creative works through change and transformation, so that each thing receives its true nature and destiny and comes into permanent accord with the Great Harmony: this is what furthers and what perseveres.

I do not think I should care to go on worshipping a Madonna even if she did wink. One cannot make much out of a wink. We want something more than that from the object of our adoration.

Coincidences are spiritual puns.

For my name and memory I leave to men’s charitable speeches, and to foreign nations and the next ages.

The difference between false memories and true ones is the same as for jewels: it is always the false ones that look the most real, the most brilliant.

We are not going to be satisfied by politicians saying ‚we support you‘ and then walking away. We won’t be satisfied until they meet our demands and act. That’s why simply taking a selfie or posting support on Twitter isn’t enough. That’s why we have to keep striking.

Right now I’m having amnesia and deja vu at the same time… I think I’ve forgotten this before.

A consistent soul believes in destiny, a capricious one in chance.

When my dad founded our church, he used either a globe or a map of the world behind him. It was symbolic of what Christ said: to go forth and preach hope to the world. We believe in the cross, but we just continued with the globe.

Fate pulls you in different directions.

Nothing stands out so conspicuously, or remains so firmly fixed in the memory, as something which you have blundered.

When my ancestors came from Africa, they were shackled by our neck, our wrists, and our ankles in steel chains. I’ve turned those steel chains into gold to symbolize the fact that I’m still a slave, only my price tag is higher.

After the 9/11 apocalypse happened in New York City, people, particularly New Yorkers, who breathed in the ash, or saw the results of that, have a tendency to keep seeing echoes and having flashbacks to it.

When it’s your time, it is your time.

There are four Powers: memory and intellect, desire and covetousness. The two first are mental and the others sensual. The three senses: sight, hearing and smell cannot well be prevented; touch and taste not at all.

I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner: ‚This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.‘ Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.

Nothing has really happened until it has been recorded.

If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered.

As soon as you have a language that has a past tense and a future tense you’re going to say, ‚Where did we come from, what happens next?‘ The ability to remember the past helps us plan the future.

We are continually shaped by the forces of coincidence.

So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!

I have never kept diaries. I just remember a lot and am more self-centered than most people.

A man’s character is his fate.

When you draw or paint a tree, you do not imitate the tree; you do not copy it exactly as it is, which would be mere photography. To be free to paint a tree or a flower or a sunset, you have to feel what it conveys to you: the significance, the meaning of it.

Hold those things that tell your history and protect them. During slavery, who was able to read or write or keep anything? The ability to have somebody to tell your story to is so important. It says: ‚I was here. I may be sold tomorrow. But you know I was here.‘

You will never fulfill your destiny doing work you despise.

The feeling about a soldier is, when all is said and done, he wasn’t really going to do very much with his life anyway. The example usually is: he wasn’t going to compose Beethoven’s Fifth.

When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.

Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things.

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.

Sometimes I’ll jot a clever turn of phrase down. Sometimes I’ll just remember it.

Modern science says: ‚The sun is the past, the earth is the present, the moon is the future.‘ From an incandescent mass we have originated, and into a frozen mass we shall turn. Merciless is the law of nature, and rapidly and irresistibly we are drawn to our doom.

Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves and immortality.

Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.

Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going.

My first recollection is that of a bugle call.

Every person above the ordinary has a certain mission that they are called to fulfill.

I have an excellent memory, a most excellent memory.