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
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Quotes
It is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.
—Charlotte Brontë, 1847Some folks want their luck buttered.
—Thomas Hardy, 1886Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BCThere 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, 1897We do not suffer by accident.
—Jane Austen, 1813Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8Misfortune, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
—E.B. White, 1944Luck is believing you’re lucky.
—William Carlos Williams, 1947Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1610A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.
—Christina Stead, 1938When the abbot throws the dice, the whole convent will play.
—Martin Luther, c. 1540