It is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.
—Charlotte Brontë, 1847
Archive
Quotes
Luck takes the step that no one sees.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCMisfortune, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1610Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.
—Cormac McCarthy, 2005Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.
—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BCTo hold a throne is luck; to bestow it, virtue.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 45When the abbot throws the dice, the whole convent will play.
—Martin Luther, c. 1540Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BCLuck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
—E.B. White, 1944Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.
—Joan Didion, 2005It is so difficult not to become vain about one’s own good luck.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963