quotations about fortune
A fool having enjoyed good fortune like intoxication to a great amount becomes more foolish.
EPICTETUS
Fragments
Fortune has been considered the guardian divinity of fools; and, on this score, she has been accused of blindness; but it should rather be adduced as a proof of her sagacity, when she helps those who cannot help themselves.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
Fortune makes a fool of him whom she favors too much.
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The Moral Sayings of Publilius Syrus
Fortune may raise up or abuse the ordinary mortal, but the sage and the soldier should have minds beyond her control.
SIR WALTER SCOTT
Tale of the Crusaders
He is truly a happy man who can, upon all occasions, reconcile himself to his fortune.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
Fantastic fortune thou deceitful light,
That cheats the weary traveler by night,
Though on a precipice each step you tread,
I am resolved to follow where you lead.
APHRA BEHN
The Rover
Fortune makes many loans, but gives no presents.
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The Moral Sayings of Publilius Syrus
We should enjoy good fortune while we have it, like the fruits of autumn.
EPICTETUS
Fragments
It is a poor sort of fatalism which makes men fold their hands and wait for fortune.
LYMAN ABBOTT
Old Testament Shadows of New Testament Truths
Fortune is a finite resource, and all the hard work can fall apart at the drop of a dime if Lady Luck decides to turn the tides in someone else's favour.
ANONYMOUS
"L for Luck", World SBK, June 13, 2019
They say fortune is a woman and capricious. But sometimes she is a good woman, and gives to those who merit.
GEORGE ELIOT
Middlemarch
Fortune never seems so blind to any as to those on whom she bestows no favors.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Moral Maxims
Those who have been indulged by fortune and have always thought of calamity as what happens to others, feel a blind incredulous rage at the reversal of their lot, and half believe that their wild cries will alter the course of the storm.
GEORGE ELIOT
Daniel Deronda
I am the child of Fortune, the giver of good, and I shall not be shamed. She is my mother; my sisters are the Seasons; my rising and my falling match with theirs.
SOPHOCLES
Oedipus Rex
Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness; but fortune is not so blind as men are. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators.
SAMUEL SMILES
Self-Help