Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.
—David Hume, 1742
Archive
Quotes
Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.
—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BCYou never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.
—Cormac McCarthy, 2005Misfortune, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8There 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, 1897Luck takes the step that no one sees.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCNothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1610To put one’s trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1890Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.
—Calvin Coolidge, 1932Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.
—Joan Didion, 2005Some folks want their luck buttered.
—Thomas Hardy, 1886