To hold a throne is luck; to bestow it, virtue.
—Seneca the Younger, c. 45To put one’s trust in God is only a longer way of saying that one will chance it.
—Samuel Butler, c. 1890Luck, in the great game of war, is undoubtedly lord of all.
—Arthur Griffiths, 1899Survivors look back and see omens, messages they missed.
—Joan Didion, 2005We do not suffer by accident.
—Jane Austen, 1813Luck takes the step that no one sees.
—Publilius Syrus, c. 50 BCA self-made man is one who believes in luck and sends his son to Oxford.
—Christina Stead, 1938Some folks want their luck buttered.
—Thomas Hardy, 1886Casting lots causes contentions to cease, and keeps the mighty apart.
—Book of Proverbs, c. 350 BCLuck is believing you’re lucky.
—William Carlos Williams, 1947Nothing is as obnoxious as other people’s luck.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1938One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
—Oscar Wilde, 1895There 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, 1897You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.
—Cormac McCarthy, 2005Good or ill fortune is very little at our disposal.
—David Hume, 1742It is weak and silly to say you cannot bear what it is your fate to be required to bear.
—Charlotte Brontë, 1847Fortune resists half-hearted prayers.
—Ovid, 8Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.
—William Shakespeare, c. 1610Good fortune turns aside destruction by a great god.
—Instructions of Ankhsheshonqy, c. 100 BCLuck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
—E.B. White, 1944Misfortune, n. The kind of fortune that never misses.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906It is so difficult not to become vain about one’s own good luck.
—Simone de Beauvoir, 1963Good 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 BCThose who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.
—Calvin Coolidge, 1932When the abbot throws the dice, the whole convent will play.
—Martin Luther, c. 1540’Tis not a ridiculous devotion to say a prayer before a game at tables?
—Thomas Browne, 1642