Quotes About Fortune

It is no great wonder if in long process of time, while fortune takes her course hither and thither, numerous coincidences should spontaneously occur. If the number and variety of subjects to be wrought upon be infinite, it is all the more easy for fortune, with such an abundance of material, to effect this similarity of results. Or if, on the other hand, events are limited to the combinations of some finite number, then of necessity the same must often recur, and in the same sequence.

For fortune having hitherto seconded him in his designs, made him resolute and firm in his opinions, and the boldness of his temper raised a sort of passion in him for surmounting difficulties; as if it were not enough to be always victorious in the field, unless places and seasons and nature herself submitted to him.

It is the fortune of all good men that their virtue rises in glory after their deaths, and that the envy which evil men conceive against them never outlives them long; some have the happiness even to see it die before them; but in Numa's case, also, the fortunes of the succeeding kings served as foils to set off the brightness of his reputation.

Over time events trickle out of the minds of forgetful, thoughtless people, and so, since they retain and conserve nothing, the empty space within them, that should be filled with good things, is filled instead with hopes, so that they neglect the present and look to the future, despite the fact that fortune may yet foil the future, whereas the present cannot be taken away.

This vexed Theseus, and determining not to hold aloof, but to share the fortunes of the people, he came forward and offered himself without being drawn by lot. The people all admired his courage and patriotism, and Aegeus finding that his prayers and entreaties had no effect on his unalterable resolution, proceeded to choose the rest by lot.

Some, too, have made banishment and loss of property a means of leisure and philosophic study, as did Diogenes and Crates. And Zeno, on learning that the ship which bore his venture had been wrecked, exclaimed, "A real kindness, O Fortune, that thou, too, dost join in driving us to the philosopher's cloak!

La suerte..., eso que muchos creen que es la base del triunfo y de la dicha, y no es nada más que la excusa para negarse, muchas veces, el triunfo y la dicha.

When opportunity knocks, some people are in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers.

Fortune is a giver and a taker.

But all historians, one may say without exception, and in no half-hearted manner, but making this the beginning and end of their labour, have impressed on us that the soundest education and training for a life of active politics is the study of History, and that surest and indeed the only method of learning how to bear bravely the vicissitudes of fortune, is to recall the calamities of others.

The test of true virtue in a man surely resides in his capacity to bear with spirit and with dignity the most complete transformations of fortune

35. This event conveys many useful lessons to a thoughtful observer. Above all, the disaster of Regulus gives the clearest possible warning that no one should feel too confident of the favours of Fortune, especially in the hour of success.

Was all the hardship there to demonstrate how unlucky I was, or was I actually a very lucky person given that I'd survived so much?

Jag flirtar flitigt med flickan Lycka, Med gumman Otur förblir jag gift; Min älskarinna är fru Fortuna, fast hon bedrar mig och är dyr i drift.

Why, human thought is a real element, a real force, darting out like electricity from every man's or woman's mind, injuring or relieving, killing or curing, building fortunes or tearing them down, working for good or ill, every moment, night or day, asleep or awake, carving, moulding and shaping people's faces and making them ugly or agreeable.

Decision, not coincidence, determines destiny.

Luck is the idol of the idle.

Don't trust in fortune until you are in heaven.

May your charity increase as much as your wealth

A rich man is either a rogue or a rogue's heir. #billionaire

A rich man is either a rogue or a rogue's heir.

A rich man is either a scoundrel or the heir of a scoundrel

A rich man is either a scoundrel or the heir of a scoundrel. #billionaire

Adam was the luckiest of men; he had no mother-in-law.