Archive

Quotes

We do not suffer by accident. 

—Jane Austen, 1813

Luck takes the step that no one sees.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

Fortune resists half-hearted prayers. 

—Ovid, 8

Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.

—E.B. White, 1944

Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.

—David Hume, 1742

Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.

—Calvin Coolidge, 1932

A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.

—Christina Stead, 1938

’Tis not a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at tables?

—Thomas Browne, 1642

Misfortune, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.

—Ambrose Bierce, 1906

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1610

To hold a throne is luck; to bestow it, virtue.

—Seneca the Younger, c. 45

Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.

—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BC

There are two times in a man’s life when he should not speculate: when he can’t afford it, and when he can.

—Mark Twain, 1897