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Quotes

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

—Arthur Griffiths, 1899

Luck takes the step that no one sees.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

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

—Ambrose Bierce, 1906

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

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

—Charlotte Brontë, 1847

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1610

Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938

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

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC

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

—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963

Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.

—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BC

Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.

—Joan Didion, 2005

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

—Oscar Wilde, 1895

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

—Martin Luther, c. 1540
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