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
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Quotes
Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938We 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. 1610When the abbot throws the dice, the whole convent will play.
—Martin Luther, c. 1540A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.
—Christina Stead, 1938There 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, 1897Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8You 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, 1944It is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.
—Charlotte Brontë, 1847Some folks want their luck buttered.
—Thomas Hardy, 1886