| |
| | Emerson - Fate - Webtext |
 | | The element of chance in the affairs of life; the unforeseen and unestimated conitions considered as a force shaping events; fortune; esp., opposing circumstances against which it is useless to struggle; as, fate was, or the fates were, against him. |
 | | Nature is the tyrannous circumstance, the thick skull, the sheathed snake, the ponderous, rock-like jaw; necessitated activity; violent direction; the conditions of a tool, like the locomotive, strong enough on its track, but which can do nothing but mischief off of it; or skates, which are wings on the ice, but fetters on the ground. |
 | | Fate, then, is a name for facts not yet passed under the fire of thought;--for causes which are unpenetrated. |
| www.vcu.edu /engweb/transcendentalism/authors/emerson/essays/fate.html (9178 words) |
|