There is no escape from one's fate.

have one's bread buttered on both sides

be an onlooker(sit by and watch; watch the fighting from behind the rampart)

sleep away one's life

with caution

can't protect oneself

keep on chattering though no one is listening

the supreme arrogance of a person with great power

imperious and despotic

hold a candle to the devil(help a tyrant to do evil)

look ahead into the future and back into the past

recruit followers

overestimate one's strength or oneself

To lay down one's life for a noble cause is worthwhile.

prunes and prism

voluntarily(of one's own free will or volition)

go to take up office

now singing; now dancing

limited outlook

live on one's own labor