Whenever you see a gaming table be sure to know fortune is not there. Rather she is always in the company of industry.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Curst is the wretch enslaved to such a vice, who ventures life and soul upon the dice.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Gambling promises the poor what property performs for the rich, something for nothing.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
The gambler is a moral suicide.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
At the gambling table, there are no fathers and sons.
—Chinese Proverb
Gambling is a principle inherent in nature.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
You cannot get anything out of nature or from God by gambling; only out of your neighbor.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
I have a notion that gamblers are as happy as most people, being always excited; women, wine, fame, the table, even ambition, sate now and then, but every turn of the card and cast of the dice keeps the gambler alive—besides one can game ten times longer than one can do any thing else.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Gambling is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
No wife can endure a gambling husband, unless he is a steady winner.
—Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar (1864–1930) Scottish Businessperson
Gambling with cards, or dice, or stocks, is all one thing; it is getting money without giving an equivalent for it.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Bets, at the first, were fool-traps, where the wise, like spiders, lay in ambush for the flies.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Although men of eminent genius have been guilty of all other vices, none worthy of more than a secondary name has ever been a gamester. Either an excess of avarice, or a deficiency of excitability, is the cause of it; neither of which can exist in the same bosom with genius, patriotism, or virtue.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
It is possible that a wise and good man may be prevailed on to gamble; but it is impossible that a professed gamester should be a wise and good man.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
One should always play fair when one has the winning cards.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Gambling houses are temples where the most sordid and turbulent passions contend; there no spectator can be indifferent. A card or a small square of ivory interests more than the loss of an empire, or the ruin of an unoffending group of infants, and their nearest relatives.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–1795) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
He was a degenerate gambler. That is, a man who gambled simply to gamble and must lose. As a hero who goes to war must die. Show me a gambler and I’ll show you a loser, show me a hero and I’ll show you a corpse.
—Mario Puzo (1920–99) Novelist, Screenwriter, Journalist
Gambling, in all countries, is the vice of the aristocracy.—The young find it established in the best circles, and enticed by the habits of others they are ruined when the habit becomes their own.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
A Gentleman is a man who will pay his gambling debts even when he knows he has been cheated.
—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) Russian Novelist
The only man who makes money following the races is one who does it with a broom and shovel.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
An assembly of the states or a court of justice, shows nothing so serious and grave as a table of gamesters playing very high; a melancholy solicitude clouds their looks; envy and rancor agitate their minds while the meeting lasts, without regard to friendship, alliances, birth, or distinctions.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Play not for gain, but sport; who plays for more than he can lose with pleasure stakes his heart.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
Man is a gaming animal. He must always be trying to get the better in something or other.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
In gambling the many must lose in order that the few may win.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
God is subtle, but He is not malicious. I cannot believe that God plays dice with the world.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing from something.
—Wilson Mizner (1876–1933) American Dramatist
The most popular method of distributing wealth is the method of the roulette table.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Horse sense is a good judgement which keeps horses from betting on people.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Actor, Comedian, Writer
The world is the house of the strong. I shall not know until the end what I have lost or won in this place, in this vast gambling den where I have spent more than sixty years, dicebox in hand, shaking the dice.
—Denis Diderot (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
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