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Quotes

Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.

—Joan Didion, 2005

Good fortune is light as a feather, but nobody knows how to hold it up. Misfortune is heavy as the earth, but nobody knows how to stay out of its way.

—Zhuangzi, c. 300 BC

You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.

—Cormac McCarthy, 2005

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

Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC

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

—Christina Stead, 1938

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1610

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

—Calvin Coolidge, 1932

Fortune resists half-hearted prayers. 

—Ovid, 8

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

—Seneca the Younger, c. 45

We do not suffer by accident. 

—Jane Austen, 1813

Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.

—David Hume, 1742

Luck, in the great game of war, is undoubtedly lord of all.

—Arthur Griffiths, 1899