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.

Words are but symbols for the relations of things to one another and to us; nowhere do they touch upon absolute truth.

Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.

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

Cynicism is something which has become symbolic of imperial policy.

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.

Memory is the way we keep telling ourselves our stories – and telling other people a somewhat different version of our stories.

The bluebird carries the sky on his back.

I only see clearly what I remember.

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

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

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.

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.

If the Christian is a restorationist, a legalist, if he wants everything clear and safe, then he will find nothing. Tradition and memory of the past must help us to have the courage to open up new areas to God.

The fact is, when men carry the same ideals in their hearts, nothing can isolate them – neither prison walls nor the sod of cemeteries. For a single memory, a single spirit, a single idea, a single conscience, a single dignity will sustain them all.

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

Control your own destiny! Control your own destiny!

When it’s your time, it is your time.

I was born on a full moon. Both my children were born on full moons, too. Some people say that’s scary. It is what it is, man, I don’t be trippin‘. I couldn’t tell God when I wanted to be born.

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

There could be no fairer destiny for any physical theory than that it should point the way to a more comprehensive theory in which it lives on as a limiting case.

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

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.

Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny.

Culture: the cry of men in face of their destiny.

Of the love or hatred God has for the English, I know nothing, but I do know that they will all be thrown out of France, except those who die there.

‚The Lion‘ all began with a picture of a faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself, ‚Let’s try to make a story about it.‘

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 awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.

The sons of Judah have to choose that God may again choose them. The divine principle of our race is action, choice, resolved memory.

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

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.

Puny man can do nothing at all to help or please God Almighty, and Luck is not the hand of God.

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.

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

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.

Nobody is forgotten when it is convenient to remember him.

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

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

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

I met Howard Zinn in 1961, my first year at Spelman College in Atlanta. He was the tall, rangy, good-looking professor that many of the girls at Spelman swooned over.

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

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.

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.

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

A cat is only itself, representative of the strong forces of life that won’t let go.

Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him.

There are many events in the womb of time, which will be delivered.

No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death. He and his are not neglected by the gods.

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

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

I think history is collective memories. In writing, I’m using my own memory, and I’m using my collective memory.

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

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

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.‘

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.

My first recollection is that of a bugle call.

Ritual is another word for fear, manifested in a different way.

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

When I’m on stage, it’s really intense. My mind is going a million miles an hour, trying to remember my act, trying to say it all the right way. It’s funny how different it looks and how it’s happening. There are three Fellini circuses in my head, and outwardly it looks like I’m going to get a bagel.