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Quotes

Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.

—David Hume, 1742

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

—Martin Luther, c. 1540

Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.

—Joan Didion, 2005

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

—Christina Stead, 1938

Luck, in the great game of war, is undoubtedly lord of all.

—Arthur Griffiths, 1899

To hold a throne is luck; to bestow it, virtue.

—Seneca the Younger, c. 45

It is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear. 

—Charlotte Brontë, 1847

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

—Ambrose Bierce, 1906

’Tis not a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at tables?

—Thomas Browne, 1642

Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC

Luck takes the step that no one sees.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1610

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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