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"
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
Fortune rarely accompanies anyone to the door.
GOETHE
Torquato Tasso
Fortune sometimes knocks like a schoolmistress, but then she teaches when she does.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
I must claim Fortune is a perverse hag until she kisses me upon the lips.
ABRAHAM MILLER
Unmoral Maxims
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, like a coy mistress, loves to yield her favors, though she makes us wrest them from her.
CHRISTIAN NESTELL BOVEE
Intuitions and Summaries of Thought
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
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
It is vain to complain of fortune while we fail in policy and conduct.
NORMAN MACDONALD
Maxims and Moral Reflections
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
He deserves to be fortune's favorite who can use her gifts with an even hand.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
Fortune hath many roads.
EDWARD COUNSEL
Maxims
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
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
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
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
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
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"
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