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

No destiny attacks us from outside. But, within him, man bears his fate and there comes a moment when he knows himself vulnerable; and then, as in a vertigo, blunder upon blunder lures him. – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry