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 BCQuotes
You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.
—Cormac McCarthy, 2005Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
—E.B. White, 1944There 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, 1897When the abbot throws the dice, the whole convent will play.
—Martin Luther, c. 1540It is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.
—Charlotte Brontë, 1847To put one’s trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1890Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1610It is so difficult not to become vain about one’s own good luck.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.
—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BCCasting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BCWe do not suffer by accident.
—Jane Austen, 1813Luck is believing you’re lucky.
—William Carlos Williams, 1947