Circumstance

There are no extraordinary men . . . just extraordinary circumstances that ordinary men are forced to deal with.
~ Admiral William Frederick ("Bull") Halsey, Jr.

A man who couldn't make things go right could at least go. He could quit trying to get out of the way of life. Chuck routine. Live the real jeopardy of circumstance. It was a question of dignity.
~ William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways: A Journey into America (1982).

In the clutch of circumstance, I have not winced or cried aloud;
Under the bludgeoning of chance, my head is bloody, but unbowed.
~ William Ernest (W.E.) Henley, Invictus: In Memoriam R.T. Hamilton Bruce (1888).

Cirumstance does not make me, it reveals me.
~ William James

When schemes are laid out in advance, it is surprising how circumstances will fit in with them.
~ William Osler

Men's judgments are
A parcel of their fortunes; and things outward
Do draw the inward quality after them,
To suffer all alike.
~ William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra. Act III, scene xiii

Occasion is the father of most that is good in us.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Henry Esmond (1852). Book I. Chapter IX: I Have The Small-Pox, And Prepare To Leave Castlewood

'Tis misfortune that awakens ingenuity, or fortitude, or endurance, in hearts where these qualities had never come to life but for the circumstance which gave them a being.
~ William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Henry Esmond (1852). Book I. Chapter IX: I Have The Small-Pox, And Prepare To Leave Castlewood

Retirement, we understand, is great if you are busy, rich, and healthy. But then, under those circumstances, work is great too.
~ William E. "Bill" Vaughan

In exceptional circumstances it is necessary to say something that is untrue in the House of Commons.
~ William Waldegrave, in Guardian (9 March 1994).

I don't believe in villains or heroes, only in right or wrong ways that individuals are taken, not by choice, but by necessity or by certain still uncomprehended influences in themselves, their circumstances and their antecedents.
~ Thomas Lanier ("Tennessee") Williams, The New York Post (17 March 1957).