quotations about fortune
In the temple, high in place
Stood Dame Fortune, fair of face,
Holding Plutus, god of riches,
In her fond and fickle arms.
Horns of plenty at her feet
Emptied half their contents sweet,
And winged Cupid stood before her,
Fascinated by her charms.
HENRY ABBEY
"The City of Success"
To be a great man one should know how to profit by every phase of fortune.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims
Fortune sometimes knocks like a schoolmistress, but then she teaches when she does.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
Fortune rarely accompanies anyone to the door.
GOETHE
Torquato Tasso
We make a goddess of Fortune ... and place her in the highest heaven. But it is not fortune that is exalted and powerful, but we ourselves that are abject and weak.
CHARLES CALEB COLTON
Lacon
He deserves to be fortune's favorite who can use her gifts with an even hand.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
It is vain to complain of fortune while we fail in policy and conduct.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
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
A lot of my life happened in great, wonderful bursts of good fortune, and then I would race to be worthy of it.
JULIE ANDREWS
"Thoroughly Modern Julie", The Guardian, Oct. 13, 2004
Whatever difference may appear in men's fortunes, there is nevertheless a certain compensation of good and ill that makes all equal.
FRANÇOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD
Moral Maxims
Fortune hath many roads.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
When Fortune frowns upon her worthy wooer, it is still permitted him to think how pleasant it will be erewhile to bask in her smiles.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
He is truly a happy man who can, upon all occasions, reconcile himself to his fortune.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
Fortune, in the distribution of her gifts, resembles a good fellow throwing pennies into the air for children to scramble after. She does not cast to this and to that one according to their respective merits, but leaves chance and their own activity to determine who shall get the most of her bounty.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
How much in this world is charged to chance or fortune, or veiled under a more devout name, and accorded to Providence; while, when we come to look honestly into affairs, we find it to be a debt of our own accumulation, and one which we must inevitably pay.
E. H. CHAPIN
Living Words
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
The wheel of Fortune, like that of a ship, is full of spokes, and sometimes flies so sharply round as to crush those who have become puffed up with her favours, so that they burst at the first tap; whilst such as are nourished, instead of bloated, by the stream of prosperity, escape by slipping between the spokes until the pressure has passed, their moderation providing their safeguard.
CHARLES WILLIAM DAY
The Maxims
Now I'm a happy fellow
Well, I am married to the fortune teller
Well happy as me can be
Now I get my fortune told for free
ROLLING STONES
"Fortune Teller"
Every man is the architect of his own fortunes, but the neighbors superintend the construction.
GEORGE ADE
"The Fable of What They Hankered For and What Was Delivered to Them", Hand-Made Fables
The folly of one man, is the fortune of another. For no man prospers so suddenly, as by others' errors.
FRANCIS BACON
"Of Fortune", The Essays or Counsels