When we take up many things in hand and fail in most of them, we bewail our lot and try to console by saying that we were fated to achieve this and fail in that. But fate is a figment of man's imagination: it is a refuge only for those who are cowardly and lack in determination.
Man is the archietct of his own fate. He can make himself, if he has the will. He can also mar himself, if he wavers and submits to opposing forces. A man of determination never fails. He unshaken determination coupled with his unflinching endeavour carries him to the goal and makes him a thoroughly successful man. But a man, who trembles at every step and has no confidence in himself, can never reach the goal and dies an inglorious death. Robert Bruce could never have regained his motherland from the clutches of the enemy if he submitted to the so-called fate and gave up the attempt. No pilot can reach his port if in the face of mountain waves, he is terrified and confused and leaves the charge to fate.
Fate is nothing and nothing can ever do anything. It is therefore, foolish to depend on fate. In order to attain success, we are to depend on ourselves alone. God has endowed man with the faculties of thinking, feeling and willing. He has also given him ability for action. It is thus man alone to work out his fate. When will and endeavour are combined together, success is assured.
From the foregoing remarks it is now evident that a man who sticks to his gun and works, wins the battle which to a wavering man having little or no confidence in himself appears as an impossibility. In fact, a man can achieve what he wills to achieve.