Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.

To put one’s trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it.

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

Fortune resists half-hearted prayers. 

A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.

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.

We do not suffer by accident. 

Misfortune, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.

When the abbot throws the dice, the whole convent will play.

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

Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.

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

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