Circumstances Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old circumstances quotes, circumstances sayings, and circumstances proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Man is not the creature of circumstances, circumstances are the creatures of men. We are free agents, and man is more powerful than matter. Benjamin Disraeli
Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise. Samuel Lover
The great advantage of being human is that we can employ rational thought and resolve to change our circumstances. Mariella Frostrup
Circumstances give in reality to every political principle its distinguishing color and discriminating effect. The circumstances are what render every civil and political scheme beneficial or noxious to mankind. Edmund Burke
Circumstances sometimes require, that rights the most unquestionable should be advanced with delicacy. Thomas Jefferson
You can blame circumstances, but backsliding always begins in the heart. Aiden Wilson Tozer
Your character should always be stronger than your circumstances. Dave Willis
Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal. Mario Andretti
Circumstances do not determine state of being; state of being determines circumstances. Darryl Anka
There's no doubt that relationships do suffer when circumstances change profoundly. Marian Keyes
Bad circumstances have a way of ruining things that would otherwise be pleasant. Daniel Handler
Our circumstances answer to our expectations and the demand of our natures. Henry David Thoreau
The peculiar circumstances of the moment may render a measure more or less wise, but cannot render it more or less constitutional. John Marshall
Every circumstance in life, no matter how crooked and distorted and ugly it appears to be, if it is reacted to in love and forgiveness and obedience to your will can be transformed. Hannah Hurnard
Circumstances are the seeds of literature. Salvador De Madariaga
It is our relation to circumstances that determines their influence upon us. Christian N. Bovee
If you are not consciously directing your life, you will lose your footing and circumstances will decide for you. Michael Beckwith
Circumstances do not determine a man, they reveal him. James Lane Allen
Constrained circumstances can bring the best out of you. Cameron Mackintosh
It is difficult to think of any circumstances where learning may be said to be impossible. Michael Joseph Oakeshott
Physical circumstance will not cause happiness. Or if it does, there is the fear of loss. Now you are a slave to it. You have become bound to it. Frederick Lenz
A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you. Joyce Meyer
To know all about anything is to know how to deal with it under all circumstances. William Kingdon Clifford
In difficult circumstances always act on first impressions. Leo Tolstoy
Do not let circumstances control you. You change your circumstances. Jackie Chan
Circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power. Benjamin Disraeli
One does not plan and then try to make circumstances fit the plans. One tries to make plans fit the circumstances. George S. Patton
The range of circumstances in which it is possible to presuppose the presence of a combination is very limited. The presence of such circumstances is the reason for the genesis of the idea in the master's brain. Emanuel Lasker
The circumstances of others seem good to us, while ours seem good to others. Publilius Syrus
The circumstances of human society are too complicated to be submitted to the rigor of mathematical calculation. Marquis de Custine
Circumstances can be very important. Find the right people to work with. Steve Lacy
You can't let your current circumstances dictate what kind of choices you make. Kelly Clark
You are not your circumstances. You are your possibilities. If you know that, you can do anything. Oprah Winfrey
Don't allow circumstance to hold you back- even negative ones. You don't have to let your circumstances define you. You can define yourself, and the best way to find yourself is through education. Mary Hatwood Futrell
Circumstances which we have resented, situations which we have found desperately difficult, have all been the means in the hands of God of driving the nails into the self-life which so easily complains. Alan Redpath
Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. Nido Qubein
To be in circumstances that are working upon us, that from time to time place us in front of great natural Things - that is all we need. Rainer Maria Rilke
The circumstances of your life have uniquely qualified you to make a contribution. And if you don't make that contribution, nobody else can make it. Rabbi Harold Kushner
Circumstances in the world of politics contribute substantially to whether or not you can be successful. Willie Brown
Circumstances are seldom right. You never have the capacities, the strength, the wisdom, the virtue you ought to have. You must always do with less than you need in a situation vastly different from what you would have chosen. Charlton Ogburn
Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. Henry James
Whatever life we have experienced, if we can tell our story to someone who listens, we find it easier to deal with our circumstances. Margaret J. Wheatley
Circumstances will never determine your amount of happiness. Circumstances only highlight who you already are. Dan Miller
We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within. Earl Nightingale
The greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances. Martha Washington
Hope is the power of being cheerful in circumstances that we know to be desperate.” G.K. Chesterton
Happiness has to do with your mindset, not with outside circumstance. Steve Maraboli
Worry is most often a prideful way of thinking that you have more control over life and its circumstances than you actually do. June Hunt
Faithfulness imparts God's reason for all circumstances. No matter what the world says, losing is no longer an option. Criss Jami
A failure is not always a mistake, it may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying. B. F. Skinner
There are no extraordinary men... just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with. William Halsey
To become mindfully aware of our surroundings is to bring our thinking back to our present moment reality and to the possibility of some semblance of serenity in the face of circumstances outside our ability to control. Jeff Kober
The key to abundance is meeting limited circumstances with unlimited thoughts. Marianne Williamson
Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night. Dave Barry
Circumstances rule men; men do not rule circumstances. Herodotus
Achievement is not always success, while reputed failure often is. It is honest endeavor, persistent effort to do the best possible under any and all circumstances. Orison Swett Marden
My faith helps me understand that circumstances don't dictate my happiness, my inner peace. Denzel Washington
There's always going to be the circumstances you can't plan for. There's always the unexpected relevance and the serendipity. Jason Silva
Man is the creature of circumstances. Robert Owen
True consistency, that of the prudent and the wise, is to act in conformity with circumstances and not to act always the same way under a change of circumstances. John C. Calhoun
Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances. Thomas Jefferson
Happiness is an attitude of mind, born of the simple determination to be happy under all outward circumstances. J. Donald Walters
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Viktor E. Frankl
A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes. Hugh Downs
The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and if they can't find them, make them. George Bernard Shaw
The ideal man bears the accidents of life with dignity and grace, making the best of circumstances. Aristotle
Not a sentence or a word is independent of the circumstances under which it is uttered. Alfred North Whitehead
Even under the most difficult circumstances you can have creative flexibility. Anne M. Mulcahy
It's not your circumstances that shape you, it's how you react to your circumstances. Anne Ortlund
We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance. Benjamin Disraeli
Don't let circumstances distress you. Rather, look for the will of God for your life to be revealed in and through those circumstances. Billy Graham
Happiness is not in our circumstances, but in ourselves. It is not something we see, like a rainbow, or feel, like the heat of the fire. Happiness is something we are. John B. Sheerin
The circumstances we ask God to change are often the circumstances God is using to change us. Max Lucado
Joy is not dependent on circumstances; it is your own. It is not a titillation produced by things; it is a state of peace, of silence-a meditative state. It is spiritual. Osho
We can let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and afraid, or we can let them soften us, and make us kinder. We always have the choice. Dalai Lama