Archive

Quotes

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

—Calvin Coolidge, 1932

Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.

—David Hume, 1742

Luck is believing you’re lucky. 

—William Carlos Williams, 1947

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

—E.B. White, 1944

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

—Seneca the Younger, c. 45

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1610

’Tis not a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at tables?

—Thomas Browne, 1642

Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938

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

—Charlotte Brontë, 1847

Fortune resists half-hearted prayers. 

—Ovid, 8

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

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC

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

—Oscar Wilde, 1895

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

—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963
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