Quotes About Chance

The decision you make determines which set of outcomes are possible and how likely each of those outcomes is. But it doesn't determine which of that set of outcomes will actually happen.

Luck is what intervenes between your decision (which has a range of possible outcomes) and the outcome that you actually get. Because any decision determines only the set of possible outcomes (some good, some bad, some in between), this means good outcomes can result from both good and bad

The way our lives turn out is the result of two things: the influence of skill and the influence of luck.

When we field our outcomes as the future unfolds, we always run into this problem: the way things turn out could be the result of our decisions, luck, or some combination of the two.

I know viscerally how likely 60–40 and 70–30 favorites are to lose (and, of course, the opposite). When people complained that Nate Silver did his job poorly because he had Clinton favored, I thought, "Those people haven't gotten all their chips in a pot with a pair against a straight draw and lost.

At one such tournament, I told the audience that one player would win 76% of the time and the other would win 24% of the time. I dealt the remaining cards, the last of which turned the 24% hand into the winner. Amid the cheers and groans, someone in the audience called out, "Annie, you were wrong!" In the same spirit that he said it, I explained that I wasn't. "I said that would happen 24% of the time. That's not zero. You got to see part of the 24%!

Luck exerts its influence between your decision and which of the possible paths you end up on. It is the element you have no control over that determines which of the possible outcomes you actually observe in the short run.

Because there are only two things that determine how your life turns out: luck and the quality of your decisions. You have control over only one of those two things.

Because any decision determines only the set of possible outcomes (some good, some bad, some in between), this means good outcomes can result from both good and bad decisions, and bad outcomes can result from both good and bad decisions.

The quality of our lives is the sum of decision quality plus luck.

The result is that we'll quit when we're ahead, even if we're giving up good opportunities to win more. If we're behind, we don't want to quit, even if persisting—to try to get to the other side of zero—is more likely to make things worse.

there are only two things that determine how your life turns out: luck and the quality of your decisions. You have control over only one of those two things.

there are exactly two things that determine how our lives turn out: the quality of our decisions and luck.

Over time, those world-class poker players taught me to understand what a bet really is: a decision about an uncertain future.

Thinking in bets starts with recognizing that there are exactly two things that determine how our lives turn out: the quality of our decisions and luck.

Le mur de Berlin est tombé. L'Histoire devient à nouveau imprévisible. Tout est venu de l'Est et en particulier de l'URSS, ce pays qui est au-dessus de moi depuis plus d'un an, par le fait du hasard (mais parce que j'écris, je devais fatalement rencontrer l'Europe de l'Est, la Bulgarie, mon premier voyage là-bas).

Soir, 10 h 30. Le présent, voilà, mou, indistinct : la rencontre est terminée. Il était à Rome, Florence ! Et Avignon au retour. Qu'en conclure ? Pur hasard, ou bien désir de connaître ce que je connais aussi

If you aim to leave Las Vegas with a small fortune, go there with a large one.

You trust your mother, but you cut the cards.

Certain people get an opportunity because they happen to be in the right place at the right time. It has no bearing on their talent. I don't think we should look at it and feel bitter about it. That's the way the cookie crumbles in all professions.

The things I learned from my parents, what was deeply ingrained in their generation, is this idea of opportunity and the freedom to have an opportunity. The way the United States was thought of is as a place you can have this chance to do anything, to say, 'This is my idea, and I get to offer it to you, and if you like it, I can profit from it.'

I was once asked to be a guest presenter on 'The Big Breakfast' for a week while Chris Evans was away, but I said no as I knew I'd be hopeless. If they asked me to guest present the 'Today' programme on Radio 4, however, I'd jump at the chance.

Once, I got a chance to meet filmmaker Pradeep Sarkar. He wanted me to give music for his film but the project never got off.

I'm particular about the projects that I've chosen. Each one of them, I've taken a step up, like climbing a ladder. Before, it was baby-steps, up to 'Riddick.' Then I took this huge leap onto 'Guardians!' It was such a higher level, this huge project which originally I never thought I'd have a chance in hell of getting.