Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own.

Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own.

The massive gates of circumstance
Are turned upon the smallest hinge,
And thus some seeming pettiest chance
read more

The massive gates of circumstance
Are turned upon the smallest hinge,
And thus some seeming pettiest chance
Oft gives our life its after-tinge.
The trifles of our daily lives,
The common things, scarce worth recall,
Whereof no visible trace survives,
These are the mainsprings after all.

This fearful concatenation of circumstances.

This fearful concatenation of circumstances.

To what fortuitous occurrence do we not owe every pleasure and
convenience of our lives.

To what fortuitous occurrence do we not owe every pleasure and
convenience of our lives.

The happy combination of fortuitous circumstances.

The happy combination of fortuitous circumstances.

How comes it to pass, if they be only moved by chance and
accident, that such regular mutations and read more

How comes it to pass, if they be only moved by chance and
accident, that such regular mutations and generations should be
begotten by a fortuitous concourse of atoms.

The circumstances of others seem good to us, while ours seem good
to others.
[Lat., Aliena nobis, nostra read more

The circumstances of others seem good to us, while ours seem good
to others.
[Lat., Aliena nobis, nostra plus aliis placent.]

And circumstance, that unspiritual god,
And miscreator, makes and helps along
Our coming evils, with a critch-like read more

And circumstance, that unspiritual god,
And miscreator, makes and helps along
Our coming evils, with a critch-like rod,
Whose touch turns hope to dust--the dust we all have trod.

Man is the creature of circumstances.

Man is the creature of circumstances.