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Is there life before death? That's chalked up
In Ballymurphy. Competence with pain,
Coherent miseries, a bite and a sup,
We hug our little destiny again.

— Seamus Heaney

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Topics

Fate

More quotes by Seamus Heaney

I rhyme
To see myself, to set the darkness echoing.

Believe in miracles
and cures and healing wells.

I don't mean sound as decoration or elaboration, but the actual cadence that moves the thing along.

In one sense the efficacy of poetry is nil – no lyric has ever stopped a tank. In another sense it is unlimited.

History says don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.

All Seamus Heaney quotes →

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One country, one constitution, one destiny.

Daniel Webster

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.

John Lewis

Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.

William Jennings Bryan

“Destiny,” said John. “The ghastliest word a man can speak.”

Poul Anderson The Corridors of Time (1965)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Seamus Heaney (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.