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.

Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye without flinching but also without attempting to play God.

You will never fulfill your destiny doing work you despise.

Man is supposed to be the maker of his destiny. It is only partly true. He can make his destiny, only in so far as he is allowed by the Great Power.

It is only by not paying one’s bills that one can hope to live in the memory of the commercial classes.

Ritual will always mean throwing away something: destroying our corn or wine upon the altar of our gods.

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

I have a memory, and I can just eliminate mistakes when they come up because I’ve already made them.

If I like a thing, it just sticks after once reading it or hearing it.

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

Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today’s events.

Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory.

Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny.

Maybe I should say that memory interests me a great deal, because I think we all tell stories of our lives to ourselves as well as to other people. Well, women do, anyway. Women do this a lot. And I think when men get older, they do this too, but maybe in slightly different terms.

The truth is, somebody is always talking about you, so you have to let it go… if it’s not a part of your God-given destiny.

The high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule.

I love tattoos. And mine symbolise who I really am. I have a Samurai on my left arm. At a subconscious level, I connect to this warrior and model myself on his discipline, skills and honour. There is also a tribal tattoo and a Chinese symbol of faith. I have seen a lot of people getting tattoos just because it’s a trend.

Only by joy and sorrow does a person know anything about themselves and their destiny. They learn what to do and what to avoid.

The memory of that scene for me is like a frame of film forever frozen at that moment: the red carpet, the green lawn, the white house, the leaden sky. The new president and his first lady.

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

Bottom line: God will not allow any person to keep you from your destiny. They may be bigger, stronger, or more powerful, but God knows how to shift things around and get you to where you’re supposed to be.

Control your own destiny! Control your own destiny!

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

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.

No trace of slavery ought to mix with the studies of the freeborn man. No study, pursued under compulsion, remains rooted in the memory.

It is the stars, The stars above us, govern our conditions.

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

Mysticism is the mistake of an accidental and individual symbol for an universal one.

I have always felt it is my destiny to build a machine that would allow man to fly.

Memory… is the diary that we all carry about with us.

And no, we don’t know where it will lead. We just know there’s something much bigger than any of us here.

The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.

Every time I hear a politician mention the word ‚stimulus,‘ my mind flashes back to high school biology class, when I touched battery wires to a dead frog to make it twitch.

I do sometimes look back at things I’ve written in the past, and think, ‚I just don’t remember being the person who wrote that.‘

I usually don’t like to ‚spoon feed‘ my audience, because I grew up idolizing story tellers who tell stories using symbolism, so it was in my nature to do the same.

There is no memory or retentive faculty based on lasting impression. What we designate as memory is but increased responsiveness to repeated stimuli.

My recollection is – and I’d have to confirm this – but I don’t recall paying any money to go to law school.

Destiny grants us our wishes, but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes.

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.

No memory of having starred atones for later disregard, or keeps the end from being hard.

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

A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is the true token of greatness.

There is hopeful symbolism in the fact that flags do not wave in a vacuum.

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.

Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.

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

I guess you could say it’s always been my destiny to be a performer.

A great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man, is the type of some great idea. Rome represents conquest; Faith hovers over the towers of Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world, Art.

The true art of memory is the art of attention.

Words are only painted fire; a look is the fire itself.

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.

In memory everything seems to happen to music.

I only see clearly what I remember.

How we experience memory sometimes, it’s not linear. We’re not telling the stories to ourselves. We know the story; we’re just seeing it in flashes overlaid.

Intimates are predestined.

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital.

Fate pulls you in different directions.

If it’s hard to remember, it’ll be difficult to forget.

Sometimes I get the start of a story from a memory, an anecdote, but that gets lost and is usually unrecognizable in the final story.

I really thought I was on the way out. My husband Blake saved my life. Often I don’t know what I do, then the next day the memory returns. And then I am engulfed in shame.

Left ear, I wear four earrings. The four is symbolic of the four seasons, spring, winter, summer and fall, the four directions, north, east, south and west, the four gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.