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Quotes

Luck is believing you’re lucky. 

—William Carlos Williams, 1947

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

—Samuel Butler, c. 1890

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

There 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, 1897

One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.

—Oscar Wilde, 1895

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

—Christina Stead, 1938

Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938

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

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

—Cormac McCarthy, 2005

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

—E.B. White, 1944

Luck takes the step that no one sees.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC
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