A self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.

—Christina Stead, 1938

We do not suffer by accident. 

—Jane Austen, 1813

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

—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BC

Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.

—William Shakespeare, c. 1610

To put one’s trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it.

—Samuel Butler, c. 1890

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

—Calvin Coolidge, 1932

Fortune resists half-hearted prayers. 

—Ovid, 8

Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.

—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938

Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.

—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BC

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

—Arthur Griffiths, 1899

Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.

—David Hume, 1742

Luck takes the step that no one sees.

—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BC

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

—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963

Some folks want their luck buttered.

—Thomas Hardy, 1886

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

—Ambrose Bierce, 1906

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

—Seneca the Younger, c. 45

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

—Thomas Browne, 1642

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

—Charlotte Brontë, 1847

You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.

—Cormac McCarthy, 2005

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

—E.B. White, 1944

Luck is believing you’re lucky. 

—William Carlos Williams, 1947

There 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, 1897

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

—Martin Luther, c. 1540

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