Bad times have a scientific value . . . . We learn geology the morning after the earthquake.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is only one genuine misfortune: not to be born.
— Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
The man with the real sense of humor is the man who can put himself in the spectator’s place and laugh at his own misfortune.
— Bert Williams
No man is content with his fortune, nor discontent with his intellect.
— Madame Antionette Deshoulires
Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would be in.
— Mark Twain
Name the greatest of all the inventors. Accident.
— Mark Twain
I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird, and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.
— Franklin D. Roosevelt
Oil is seldom found where it is most needed, and seldom most needed where it is found.
— L. E. J. Brouwer
To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.
— Albert Einstein
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however the act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
— G. K. Chesterton
Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny.
— Kin Hubbard
With luck on your side you can do without brains.
— Giordano Bruno
As long as we are lucky we attribute it to our smartness; our bad luck we give the gods credit for.
— Josh Billings
I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.
— Stephen Butler Leacock
Luck is the residue of design.
— Branch Rickey
Depend upon the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember it didn’t work for the rabbit!
— R. E. Shay
Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.
— E. B. White
If all our misfortunes were laid in one common heap, whence everyone must take an equal portion, most people would be content to take their own and depart.
— Solon
Can anybody remember when the times were not hard and money not scarce?
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
It is a very bad thing to become accustomed to good luck.
— Publilius Syrus
Fortune gives too much to many, but enough to none.
— Martial, first century A.D.
Luck never made a man wise.
— Seneca the Younger
May you live all the days of your life.
— Jonathan Swift
A flock of blessings light upon thy back.
— William Shakespeare
The harder you work, the luckier you get.
— Gary Player
No man can escape his fate.
— Sophocles
