Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BCQuotes
Luck is believing you’re lucky.
—William Carlos Williams, 1947Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.
—Joan Didion, 2005Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1610It is so difficult not to become vain about one’s own good luck.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.
—Calvin Coolidge, 1932Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
—E.B. White, 1944Good 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 BCYou never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.
—Cormac McCarthy, 2005Fortune 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, 1938