Though men pride themselves on their great actions, often they are not the result of any great design, but of chance.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.
—Ray Kroc (1902–84) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Chance favors those in motion.
—James H. Austin American Buddhist Neuroscientist, Scientist, Author, Academic
Fortune favors the bold.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
—Demosthenes (384–322 BCE) Greek Statesman, Orator
I got well by talking. Death could not get a word in edgewise, grew discouraged, and traveled on.
—Louise Erdrich (b.1954) American Children’s Books Writer, Novelist, Short Story Writer, Poet
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
Commerce is a game of skill, which every man cannot play, which few men can play well. The right merchant is one who has the just average of faculties we call commonsense; a man of strong affinity for facts, who makes up his decision on what he has seen. He is thoroughly persuaded of the truths of arithmetic. There is always a reason, in the man, for his good or bad fortune; and so, in making money. Men talk as if there were some magic about this, and believe in magic, in all parts of life. He knows that all goes on the old road, pound for pound, cent for cent-for every effect a perfect cause-and that good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
If you care about something, you have to protect it—if you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.
—John Irving (b.1942) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
Fortune’s a right whore. If she give ought, she deals it in small parcels, that she may take away all at one swoop.
—John Webster (1580–1634) English Dramatist, Poet
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
—Unknown
Lucky at cards, unlucky in love.
—Common Proverb
When I work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, I get lucky.
—Armand Hammer (1898–1992) American Entrepreneur, Businessman
Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances. It was somebody’s name, or he happened to be there at the time, or it was so then, and another day it would have been otherwise. — Strong men believe in cause and effect. — The man was born to do it, and his father was born to be the father of him and of this deed, and by looking narrowly, you shall see there was no luck in the matter, but it was all a problem in arithmetic, or an experiment in chemistry.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
—Joyce Carol Oates (b.1938) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Playwright, Poet, Literary Critic
Of course I believe in luck. How otherwise to explain the success of some people you detest?
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Novelist, Dramatist, Playwright, Artist
Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted, but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.
—Garrison Keillor (b.1942) American Author, Humorist, Radio Personality
We create our fate every day … most of the ills we suffer from are directly traceable to our own behavior.
—Henry Miller (1891–1980) American Novelist, Painter
The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Luck is everything. … My good luck in life was to be a really frightened person. I’m fortunate to be a coward, to have a low threshold of fear, because a hero couldn’t make a good suspense film.
—Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) British-born American Film Director, Film Producer
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
Men who have attained things worth having in this world have worked while others idled, have persevered when others gave up in despair, have practiced early in life the valuable habits of self-denial, industry, and singleness of purpose. As a result, they enjoy in later life the success so often erroneously attributed to good luck.
—Grenville Kleiser (1868–1935) Canadian Author
Good luck needs no explanation.
—Shirley Temple (1928–2014) American Actress, Diplomat
It is more easy to get a favor from fortune than to keep it.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Luck can often mean simple taking advantage of a situation at the right moment; it is possible to “make” your luck by being always prepared.
—Michael Korda
People often remark that I’m pretty lucky. Luck is only important in so far as getting the chance to sell yourself at the right moment. After that, you’ve got to have talent and know how to use it.
—Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) American Singer
Good luck is the willing handmaid of a upright and energetic character, and conscientious observance of duty.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
You have to be eligible for luck to strike, and I think that’s a matter of education and preparation, and character and all the other solid attributes that sometimes people laugh at.
—James A. Michener (1907–97) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Historian
See a pin and pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck; set a pin and let it lie, you’ll want a pin before you die.
—Common Proverb
Luck: when your burst of energy doesn’t run afoul of someone else’s.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Some folk want their luck buttered.
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English Novelist, Poet
The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.
—Earl Nightingale (1921–89) American Motivational Speaker, Author
Maybe I’m lucky to be going so slowly, because I may be going in the wrong direction.
—Ashleigh Brilliant (b.1933) British Cartoonist, Author
Men of action are favored by the Goddess of luck.
—George Samuel Clason (1874–1957) American Businessperson, Author
Pitch a lucky man, into the Nile, says the Arabian proverb, and he will come up with a fish in his mouth.
—Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–67) American Poet, Playwright, Essayist
Die when I may, I want it said of me by those who know me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower when I thought a flower would grow.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
What we call luck is the inner man externalized. We make things happen to us.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canada Journalist, Playwright, Academic, Critic, Novelist
If a man who cannot count finds a four-leaf clover, is he lucky?
—Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1909–1966) Polish Aphorist, Poet
Chance can be thought of as the cards you are dealt in life. Choice is how you play them.
—Edward O. Thorp
‘Tis better to be fortunate than wise.
—John Webster (1580–1634) English Dramatist, Poet
Failure and success seem to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling, of fighting with their star or against it, and in the whole universe the only really interesting movement is this wriggle.
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
Each misfortune you encounter will carry in it the seed of tomorrow’s good luck.
—Og Mandino (1923–96) American Self-help Author
Luck implies an absolute absence of any principle.
—Zhuang Zhou (369BCE–286BCE) Chinese Philosopher
I think luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it. Everyone has bad breaks, but everyone also has opportunities. The man who can smile at his breaks and grab his chances gets on.
—Samuel Goldwyn (1879–1974) Polish-born American Film Producer, Businessperson
The harder I work, the luckier I get.
—Samuel Goldwyn (1879–1974) Polish-born American Film Producer, Businessperson
Diligence is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to industry. Work while it is called today, for you know not how much you may be hindered tomorrow. One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
Throw a lucky man into the sea, and he will come up with a fish in his mouth.
—Arabic Proverb
The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.
—Unknown
Perhaps our supercilious disgust with existence is a cover for a secret disgust with ourselves; we have botched and bungled our lives, and we cast the blame upon the environment or the world, which have no tongues to utter a defense. The mature man accepts the natural limitations of life; he does not expect Providence to be prejudiced in his favor; he does not ask for loaded dice to play the game of life. He knows, with Carlyle, that there is no sense in vilifying the sun because it will not light our cigars. And perhaps, if we are clever enough to help it, the sun will even do that; and this vast neutral cosmos may turn out to be a pleasant place enough if we bring a little sunshine of our own to help it out. In truth, the world is neither with us or against us; it is but raw material in our hands, and can be heaven or hell according to what we are.
—Will Durant (1885–1981) American Historian, Philosopher, Memoirist, Socialist
Some people go through life trying to find out what the world holds for them only to find out too late that it’s what they bring to the world that really counts.
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) Canadian Novelist
Luck is tenacity of purpose.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
I think that one can have luck if one tries to create an atmosphere of spontaneity.
—Federico Fellini (1920–93) Italian Filmmaker
Nature creates ability; luck provides it with opportunity.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
The Three Rules of Work: 1. Out of clutter, find simplicity. 2. From discord, find harmony. 3. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Exceptional talent does not always win its reward unless favored by exceptional circumstances.
—Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1837–1915) British Novelist
Chance favors the prepared mind.
—Louis Pasteur (1822–95) French Biologist
If you think you can, you can.
And if you think you can’t, you’re right.
—Mary Kay Ash (1918–2001) American Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Luck is preparation meeting opportunity.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
Lady Luck generally woos those who earnestly, enthusiastically, unremittingly woo her.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
The man who is intent on making the most of his opportunities is too busy to bother about luck.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck — who keeps right on going — is the man who is there when the good luck comes — and is ready to receive it.
—Robert Collier (1885–1950) American Self-Help Author
Those who have succeeded at anything and don’t mention luck are kidding themselves.
—Larry King (b.1933) American TV Personality, Radio Personality, Journalist
Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Chance usually favors the prudent man.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Luck is always waiting for something to turn up. Labor, with keen eyes and strong will, always turns up something. Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman will bring news of a legacy. Labor turns out at six o’clock and with busy pen or ringing hammer, lays the foundation of a competence. Luck whines. Labor whistles. Luck relies on chance, labor on character.
—Richard Cobden
What luck for the rulers that men do not think.
—Adolf Hitler (1889–1945) Nazi Leader, Chancellor of Germany
Since luck’s a nine days’s wonder, wait their end.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Diligence is the mother of good luck.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
When you work seven days a week, fourteen hours a day, you get lucky.
—Armand Hammer (1898–1992) American Entrepreneur, Businessman
The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food.
—Russian Proverb
Foolish indeed are those who trust to fortune.
—Murasaki Shikibu (973–1031) Japanese Diarist, Novelist
A lucky man is rarer than a white crow.
—Juvenal (c.60–c.136 CE) Roman Poet
No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
Superiority to fate is difficult to gain; ’tis not conferred of any, but possible to earn.
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
So nothing is ever good or bad unless you think it so, and vice versa. All luck is good luck to the man who bears it with equanimity.
—Boethius (c.480–524 CE) Roman Statesman, Philosopher
I’m hardnosed about luck. I think it sucks. Yeah, if you spend seven years looking for a job as a copywriter, and then one day somebody gives you a job, you can say, “Gee, I was lucky I happened to go up there today”. But dammit, I was going to go up there sooner or later in the next 70 years … If you’re persistent in trying and doing and working, you almost make your own fortune.
—Jerry Della Femina (b.1936) American Advertising Executive
Opportunity is a haughty goddess who wastes no time with those who are unprepared.
—George Samuel Clason (1874–1957) American Businessperson, Author