Fortune Quotes - Page 21

• A certain jollity of mind, pickled in the scorn of fortune.

  Francois Rabelais

  Mind, Certain, Scorn

  Francois Rabelais (2014). “Gargantua and Pantagruel”, p.684, Lulu Press, Inc

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• The use we make of our fortune determines its sufficiency. A little is enough if used wisely, and too much if expended foolishly.

  Christian Nestell Bovee

  Use, Littles, Too Much

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• It is the good fortune of the affluent country that the opportunity cost of economic discussion is low and hence it can afford all kinds.

  John Kenneth Galbraith

  Country, Opportunity, Cost

  1971 Economics, Peace, and Laughter.

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• The wise man knoweth where to stop, as he runneth in the race of fortune, For experience of old hath taught him, that happiness lingered midway; And many in hot pursuit have hasted to the goal of wealth, But have lost, as they ran, those apples of gold--the mind and the power to enjoy it.

  Martin Farquhar Tupper

  Wise, Men, Race

  Martin Farquhar Tupper (1850). “Proverbial Philosophy: A Book of Thoughts and Arguments. 1st and 2d Series in One Volume”, p.124

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• Who shall guess what I may be?Who can tell my fortune to me?For, bravest and brightest that ever was sungMay be - and shall be - the lot of the young!

  Martin Farquhar Tupper

  May, Young

  Martin Farquhar Tupper (1860). “Tupper's Complete Poetical Works: Containing "Proverbial Philosophy," "A Thousand Lines," "Hactenus," "Geraldine," and "Miscellaneous Poems"”, p.257

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• Ambition has its disappointments to sour us, but never the good fortune to satisfy us.

  Benjamin Franklin

  Disappointment, Ambition, Sour

  Benjamin Franklin (1839). “Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin”, p.15

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• It's hard to tell our good luck sometimes. Hard to tell sometimes for many years to come. And most of us have wept copious tears over someone or something, when if we'd understood the situation better, we might have celebrated our good fortune insteadOne can never change the past, only the hold it has on you and while nothing in your life is reversible, you can reverse it nevertheless.

  Merle Shain

  Good Luck, Past, Years

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• Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence can set us above the want of this general blessing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expectation of some new possession, of some enjoyment yet behind, by which the wish shall at last be satisfied, and the heart filled up to its utmost extent.

  Samuel Johnson

  Heart, Blessing, Filled Up

  Samuel Johnson (1804). “The Beauties of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Consisting of Maxims and Observations, Moral, Critical, and Miscellaneous : to which are Now Added, Biographical Anecdotes of the Doctor, Selected from the Works of Mrs. Piozzi, His Life, Recently Published by Mr. Boswell, and Other Authentic Testimonies : Also His Will, and the Sermon He Wrote for the Late Doctor Dodd”, p.222

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• The mind is free, whate'er afflict the man, A King's a King, do Fortune what she can.

  Michael Drayton

  Kings, Men, Mind

  'The Barrons' Wars' (1603) canto 5, st. 36

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• A despairing heart is the true prophet of approaching evil; his actions may weave the webs of Fortune, but not break them.

  Francis Quarles

  Heart, Evil, Despair

  Francis Quarles (1856). “Enchiridion: Containing Institutions Divine Contemplative Practical: Moral Ethical Oeconomical Political”, p.22

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• You see, astrology is like fortune-telling. If you can't get it right, you say, "Well, if Venus was doing something peculiar in the background, that would alter your prognostication--because, of course, astrology is rubbish.

  Quentin Crisp

  Astrology, Peculiar, Venus

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• But if anyone were to conduct his life by reason He would find great riches in living a peaceful life And being contented; one is never short of a little But men want always to be powerful and famous So that their fortune rests on a solid foundation And they can spend a placid life in opulence. There isn't a hope of it; to attain great honours You have to struggle along a dangerous way And even when you reach the top there is envy Which can strike you down like lightning into Tartarus. For envy, like lightning, generally strikes at the top Or any point which sticks out from the ordinary level.

  Lucretius

  Powerful, Struggle, Men

  Titus Lucretius Carus, Lucretius, C. H. Sisson (2003). “De Rerum Natura”, p.167, Psychology Press

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• Fortune is for all, judgment is theirs who have won it for themselves.

  Aeschylus

  Judgment

  Aeschylus (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Aeschylus (Illustrated)”, p.418, Delphi Classics

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• We could almost believe that we are destined by Providence to an unsettled position on the globe, so invariably is a love of change implanted in the young. It seems as if the eternal Lawgiver intended that, at a certain age, man should leave father, mother, and the dwelling of his infancy, to seek his fortunes over the wide world.

  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

  Mother, Father, Believe

  Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1835). “Lodore”, p.67

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• By working one can bend fortune. She is fond of crafty men.

  Gustave Flaubert

  Men, Crafty

  Gustave Flaubert (2005). “Salammbo”, p.160, Penguin UK

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• If exclusive privileges were not granted, and if the financial system would not tend to concentrate wealth, there would be few great fortunes and no quick wealth. When the means of growing rich is divided between a greater number of citizens, wealth will also be more evenly distributed; extreme poverty and extreme wealth would be also rare.

  Denis Diderot

  Mean, Numbers, Would Be

  "L'Encyclopédie", Article on Wealth, 1766.

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• The bones of the Dead will be seen to govern the fortunes of him who moves them.

  Leonardo da Vinci

  Moving, Bones

  Leonardo Da Vinci, General Press (2016). “The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci”, p.493, GENERAL PRESS

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• Come, my friend, forget your foes, and leave your fears behind, And wander forth to try your luck, with cheerful, quiet mind; For be your fortune great or small, you take what God will give, And all the day your heart will say, "'Tis luck enough to live.

  Henry Van Dyke

  Heart, Giving, Luck

  Henry Van Dyke (1920). “The works of Henry Van Dyke”

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• To balance Fortune by a just expense, Join with Economy, Magnificence.

  Alexander Pope

  Balance, Magnificence, Economics

  Alexander Pope (1873). “The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope Edited with Notes and Introductory Memoir by Adolphus William Ward”, p.252

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• There various news I heard of love and strife,Of peace and war, health, sickness, death, and life,Of loss and gain, of famine and of store,Of storms at sea, and travels on the shore,Of prodigies, and portents seen in air,Of fires and plagues, and stars with blazing hair,Of turns of fortune, changes in the state,The fall of favourites, projects of the great,Of aid mismanagements, taxations new:All neither wholly false, nor wholly true.

  Alexander Pope

  Stars, War, Fall

  Alexander Pope (1819). “The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope: In Three Volumes Complete : with His Last Corrections, Additions, and Improvements, Together with All His Notes, as They Were Delivered to the Editor a Little Before His Death : Together with the Commentary and Notes of Mr. Warburton”, p.244

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• Let every man in mankind's frailtyConsider his last day; and let nonePresume on his good fortune until he findLife, at his death, a memory without pain.

  Sophocles

  Pain, Memories, Men

  Sophocles (1977). “The Oedipus Cycle: An English Version”, Harcourt

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• Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others; but of the three, the only quite trustworthy one is the last. The acts of a nation may be triumphant by its good fortune; and its words mighty by the genius of a few of its children: but its art, only by the general gifts and common sympathies of the race.

  John Ruskin

  Art, Children, Book

  St. Mark's Rest preface (1877)

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• We need examples of people who, leaving Heaven to decide whether they are to rise in the world, decide for themselves that they will be happy in it, and have resolved to seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity; making the first of possessions, self-possession; and honouring themselves in the harmless pride and calm pursuits of peace.

  John Ruskin

  Pride, Self, People

  John Ruskin, Christine Roth (2004). “The Two Paths”, p.148, Parlor Press LLC

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• All gambling is the telling of a fortune, but of a monstrously depleted fortune, empty of everything save one numerical circumstance, shorn of all such richness as a voyage across the water, a fair man that loves you, a dark woman that means you harm.

  Rebecca West

  Love You, Mean, Dark

  Rebecca West (2010). “The Thinking Reed”, p.193, Open Road Media

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• Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness; but fortune is not so blind as men are. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators.

  Samuel Smiles

  Men, Wind, Looks

  Samuel Smiles (1859). “Self-help; with illustrations of character and conduct”, p.46

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