Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill. – Arthur Conan Doyle

It is sad when two people turn from the paths they’re traveling, and their paths go on to cross without them. – Robert Brault, rbrault.blogspot.com

Chance is perhaps the pseudonym of God when he does not want to sign. – Théophile Gautier, c.1845, translated from French

The pulse of destiny still shook the foundations of the world. The will that had willed this thing to happen had now another will to deal with—nor should the stream of Fate swallow up his heart without a cry. – Frederic Jesup Stimson, In Cure of Her Soul, 1906, wording slightly altered