Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8Quotes
Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.
—Joan Didion, 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, 1897It is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.
—Charlotte Brontë, 1847Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.
—David Hume, 1742Luck takes the step that no one sees.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCGood 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 BCOne should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895We do not suffer by accident.
—Jane Austen, 1813To hold a throne is luck; to bestow it, virtue.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 45Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1610Luck, in the great game of war, is undoubtedly lord of all.
—Arthur Griffiths, 1899