Moirai

In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Moirai—often known in English as the Fates—were the personifications of destiny. They were three sisters: Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (the allotter), and Atropos (the inevitable, a metaphor for death). Their Roman equivalent is the Parcae.

Quotes

• If thou observe the tokens, which this man
  Trac’d by the finger of the angel bears,
  ’Tis plain that in the kingdom of the just
  He needs must share. But sithence she, whose wheel
  Spins day and night, for him not yet had drawn
  That yarn, which, on the fatal distaff pil’d,
  Clotho apportions to each wight that breathes,
  His soul, that sister is to mine and thine,
  Not of herself could mount, for not like ours
  Her ken.
  • Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio, Canto XXI, as translated by Cary (1814)

• Comes the blind Fury with th’abhorrèd shears,
  And slits the thin spun life.
  • John Milton, Lycidas (1637), l. 75

• Tous nos jours sont sujets aux Parques;
  Ceux des bergers et des monarques
  Sont coupds des memes ciseaux.
  • Equal laws the Sisters make,
    Kings' and peasants' threads they take,
    And one weapon cuts them all.
  • Honorat de Bueil de Racan, La Vie, st. 5, ll. 4–6