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
Archive
Quotes
Luck is believing you’re lucky.
—William Carlos Williams, 1947Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.
—David Hume, 1742Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938Luck takes the step that no one sees.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCSurvivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.
—Joan Didion, 2005A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.
—Christina Stead, 1938Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895To put one’s trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1890You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.
—Cormac McCarthy, 2005Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BCMisfortune, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906