Archive

Quotes

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

—Calvin Coolidge, 1932

Fortune resists half-hearted prayers. 

—Ovid, 8

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

—Arthur Griffiths, 1899

Luck takes the step that no one sees.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

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

—Seneca the Younger, c. 45

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

Luck is believing you’re lucky. 

—William Carlos Williams, 1947

Some folks want their luck buttered.

—Thomas Hardy, 1886

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

—Cormac McCarthy, 2005

Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.

—Joan Didion, 2005

It is so difficult not to become vain about one’s own good luck.

—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963

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

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC

Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.

—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BC