On Luck

‘The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.’
— Ecclesiastes 9:11
‘The luck of having talent is not enough; one must also have a talent for luck.’
— Hector Berlioz
‘Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.’
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
‘Fortune favours the audacious.’
— Desiderius Erasmus
‘Fortune always will confer an aura
Of worth, unworthily; and in this world
The lucky person passes for a genius.’
— Euripedes
‘He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner.’
— Benjamin Franklin
‘Some folk want their luck buttered.’
— Thomas Hardy
‘To get anywhere, or even to live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer.’
— Robert Heinlein
‘Life is not so bad if you have plenty of luck, a good physique and not too much imagination.’
— Christopher Isherwood
‘I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.’
— Thomas Jefferson
‘The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction.’
— Samuel Johnson
‘Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.’
— Ray Kroc
‘Luck affects everything; let your hook always be cast.’
— Ovid
‘Chance favours the prepared mind.’
— Louis Pasteur
‘The harder I practice, the luckier I get.’
— Gary Player
‘Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.’
— Seneca
‘Every man is the architect of his own fortune.’
— Sallust
‘Fortune brings in some boats that are not steered.’
— William Shakespeare
‘Fortune favours the brave.’
— Publius Terence
‘Everything in life is luck.’
— Donald Trump
‘Fortune knocks at every man’s door once in a life, but in a good many cases the man is in a neighboring saloon and does not hear her.’
— Mark Twain