Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.
—Joan Didion, 2005
Archive
Quotes
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, 1897Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.
—Christina Stead, 1938It is so difficult not to become vain about one’s own good luck.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963Some folks want their luck buttered.
—Thomas Hardy, 1886You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.
—Cormac McCarthy, 2005Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.
—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BCFortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1610’Tis not a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at tables?
—Thomas Browne, 1642It is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.
—Charlotte Brontë, 1847Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895