Man is not the creature of circumstances,
Circumstances are the creatures of men.

Man is not the creature of circumstances,
Circumstances are the creatures of men.

And grasps the skirts of happy chance,
And breasts the blows of circumstance.

And grasps the skirts of happy chance,
And breasts the blows of circumstance.

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.

Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own.

Thus neither the praise nor the blame is our own.

Man, without religion, is the creature of circumstances.

Man, without religion, is the creature of circumstances.

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.

Thus we see, too, in the world that some persons assimilate only
what is ugly and evil from the read more

Thus we see, too, in the world that some persons assimilate only
what is ugly and evil from the same moral circumstances which
supply good and beautiful results--the fragrance of celestial
flowers--to the daily life of others.

By some fortuitous concourse of atoms.
[Lat., Fortuito quodam concursu atomorum.]

By some fortuitous concourse of atoms.
[Lat., Fortuito quodam concursu atomorum.]

Epicureans, that ascribed the origin and frame of the world not
to the power of God, but to the read more

Epicureans, that ascribed the origin and frame of the world not
to the power of God, but to the fortuitous concourse of atoms.