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Quotes

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1610

Luck takes the step that no one sees.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

Some folks want their luck buttered.

—Thomas Hardy, 1886

We do not suffer by accident. 

—Jane Austen, 1813

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

—E.B. White, 1944

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

—Calvin Coolidge, 1932

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

—Seneca the Younger, c. 45

Luck is believing you’re lucky. 

—William Carlos Williams, 1947

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

—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963

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

—Samuel Butler, c. 1890

Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.

—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BC

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

—Cormac McCarthy, 2005

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

—Martin Luther, c. 1540
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