Fate and Control

Fate is bridled by action

• Machiavelli (machiavelli) — fortune is a river: against it men build dykes and barriers and suit their actions to the times; virtù against fortune. Grounding: fortunu-obuzdyvayut-barierami, virtu, virtu-protiv-fortuny.
• James Allen (james-allen) — there is no chance: man is master of thought, and therefore maker of character and shaper of destiny; you attract what you are. Grounding: chelovek-est-to-chto-dumaet, prityagivaesh-ne-to-chto-hochesh-a-to-chto-est.
• Hill (hill) — success is a method, not luck: a definite aim and organized effort crowd out chance. Grounding: uspekh-eto-metod-a-ne-udacha, sila-eto-organizovannoe-usilie.
• Wattles (wattles) — the result is guaranteed by causation: the Certain Way works regardless of environment and talent. Grounding: bogatstvo-est-tochnaya-nauka, opredelyonny-sposob.

Control is divided: yours and not yours

• Epictetus (epictetus) — the dichotomy of control: judgment and will are yours; body, property, reputation, and outcome are not; wish the things which happen to be as they are. Grounding: dihotomiya-kontrolya, razlichay-podvlastnoe, hoti-chtoby-bylo-kak-est.
• Confucius (confucius) — the decree of Heaven (ming) is not in your power, your duty is: the junzi does his part and does not murmur. Grounding: ming, tian, junzi.
• Pascal (pascal) — under uncertainty neutrality is impossible: you are already embarked, the choice is forced — take the wager. Grounding: nado-parit, pari.
• Ignatius Loyola (ignatius) — in desolation do not shift the helm: decisions made in the light are not to be revised in the dark. Grounding: v-temnote-ne-perekladyvay-rul, vybor-iz-ravnovesiya.

The current is followed

• Laozi (laozi) — things go of themselves, and the movement of the Tao is return: do not pull at the shoots; what is carried to its limit turns back. Grounding: ziran, fan, wuwei.
• Goethe (goethe) — there is the inscrutable and the daemonic: acknowledge the boundary of the knowable and do the demand of the day. Grounding: neispovedimoe, demonicheskoe, trebovanie-dnya.
• Tolstoy (tolstoy) — life has meaning as the fulfilment of the will of Him who sent us: do not take apart the watch you live by. Grounding: volya-boga, ne-razbiray-chasy-kotorymi-zhivesh.

Chance and mood rule

• La Rochefoucauld (larochefoucauld) — the world is ruled by fortune and humour: "character" and "constancy" are their aliases. Grounding: fortuna-i-nastroenie-pravyat-mirom, fortuna-i-nastroenie.

Axis of dispute: Wattles and Allen against Epictetus — the external summoned by
thought against the boundary of control; Machiavelli against Laozi — barriers
against the current; La Rochefoucauld against Hill — fortune against method.