How we cite our quotes:
Quote #4
But there is a fatality attends the actions of some men: Order them as they will, they pass through a certain medium which so twists and refracts them from their true directions. (1.10.18)
Now Tristram gets all philosophical on us, suggesting that fate is only a problem for some guys. There are people who can be masters of their own destiny—probably, say, about 1%—while the rest are slaves to fate and/ or Wall Street.
Quote #5
The two extremes are more common, and in a greater degree in this unsettled island, where nature, in her gifts and dispositions of this kind, is most whimsical and capricious; fortune herself not being more so in the bequest of her goods and chattels than she. (1.11.6)
Nature and fortune are two different forces: one gives personality and talent, one gives wealth, and you can't do anything about any of it, so you might as well just give up now and lie in bed all day eating Doritos. Sounds like a plan to us.
Quote #6
But I was begot and born to misfortunes (1.15.4)
Debbie Downer Tristram acts like he believes his fate was sealed at the moment of conception, and there was never a chance for him to have a better life. But what about his mother's choice to interrupt his father? Could that have prevented Tristram's fate (and the novel)?