Archive

Quotes

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

—Christina Stead, 1938

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

—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963

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

—E.B. White, 1944

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

—Charlotte Brontë, 1847

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

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

—Calvin Coolidge, 1932

Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.

—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BC

Luck takes the step that no one sees.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.

—David Hume, 1742

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

—Arthur Griffiths, 1899

Some folks want their luck buttered.

—Thomas Hardy, 1886

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

—Seneca the Younger, c. 45

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

—Cormac McCarthy, 2005
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