’Tis not a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at tables?
—Thomas Browne, 1642Quotes
Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.
—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BCFortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.
—Christina Stead, 1938There 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, 1897Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1610Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
—E.B. White, 1944One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895To put one’s trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1890Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.
—Calvin Coolidge, 1932We do not suffer by accident.
—Jane Austen, 1813To hold a throne is luck; to bestow it, virtue.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 45Misfortune, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906