Chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
The successful man is one who had the chance and took it.
—Roger Babson (1875–1967) American Economist
There is no doubt such a thing as chance; but I see no reason why Providence should not make use of it.
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Novelist, Historian
Chance has something to say in everything, even how to write a good letter.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
Many a happiness in life, as many a disaster, can be due to chance, but the peace within us can never be governed by chance.
—Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949) Belgian Poet, Playwright, Essayist
There is no such thing as chance; and what seems to us the merest accident springs from the deepest source of destiny.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
If you have a dream, give it a chance to happen.
—Richard DeVos (1926–2018) American Businessman, Philanthropist
Chance never helps those who do not help themselves.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
The roulette table pays nobody except him that keeps it. Nevertheless a passion for gaming is common, though a passion for keeping roulette tables is unknown.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Who dares nothing, need hope for nothing.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance. They have no legitimate complaint against anyone but themselves.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
You are where you are today because you’ve chosen to be there.
—Harry Browne (1933–2006) American Politician, Investor, Writer
There is no such thing as no chance.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
Nothing important was ever achieved without someone taking a chance.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (b.1940) American Self-Help Author
Not only does God play dice, but… he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.
—Stephen Hawking (1942–2018) English Theoretical Physicist, Cosmologist, Academic
Chance is a word devoid of sense, nothing can exist without a cause.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul.
—Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) American Poet, Journalist
Chance generally favors the prudent.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Men’s activities are occupied into ways—in grappling with external circumstances and in striving to set things at one in their own topsy-turvy mind.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
Virtue comes not from chance but long study.
—Italian Proverb
Did you ever observe to whom the accidents happen?. Chance favors only the prepared mind.
—Louis Pasteur (1822–95) French Biologist
He who distrusts the security of chance takes more pains to effect the safety which results from labor. To find what you seek in the road of life, the best proverb of all is that which says: “Leave no stone unturned.”
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
What can be more foolish than to think that all this rare fabric of heaven and earth could come by chance, when all the skill of art is not able to make an oyster? To see rare effects, and no cause; a motion, without a mover; a circle, without a centre; a time, without an eternity; a second, without a first: these are things so against philosophy and natural reason, that he must be a beast in understanding who can believe in them. The thing formed, says that nothing formed it; and that which is made, is, while that which made it is not! This folly is infinite.
—Jeremy Taylor
Grab a chance and you won’t be sorry for a might have been.
—Arthur Ransome (1884–1967) English Journalist, Children’s Writer
One who waits for chance may wait a year.
—African Proverb
It’s all fate and chance.
—Arabic Proverb
Work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When the cat and the mouse agree the farmer doesn’t stand a chance.
—Danish Proverb
Though I am not naturally honest, I am so sometimes by chance.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The race is not [always] to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
A fool must now and then be right, by chance.
—William Cowper (1731–1800) English Anglican Poet, Hymn writer
Luck is always waiting for something to turn up. Labor, with keen eyes and strong will, always turns up something. Luck lies in bed and wishes the postman will bring news of a legacy. Labor turns out at six o’clock and with busy pen or ringing hammer, lays the foundation of a competence. Luck whines. Labor whistles. Luck relies on chance, labor on character.
—Richard Cobden
You can’t accomplish anything worthwhile if you inhibit yourself. If life teaches you nothing else, know this for sure: When you get the chance, go for it.
—Oprah Winfrey (b.1954) American TV Personality
There is no such thing as chance or accident; the words merely signify our ignorance of some real and immediate cause.
—Adam Clarke (1762–1832) British Methodist Scholar, Theologian, Clergyman
The pseudonym for God when He did not want to sign.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
Many people seem to think that opportunity means a chance to get money without earning it.
—Indian Proverb
It’s not the events of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those events mean.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Most people wait until everything is just right before they do anything. They refuse to go out on a limb where the fruit is. They refuse to bet on themselves.
—Zig Ziglar (1926–2012) American Author
Those who have succeeded at anything and don’t mention luck are kidding themselves.
—Larry King (1933–2021) American TV Personality, Radio Personality, Journalist
Don’t call a man honest just because he never had the chance to steal.
—Yiddish Proverb
Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
Every chance taken is another chance to win.
—Unknown
You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.
—Charles F. Kettering (1876–1958) American Inventor, Entrepreneur, Businessperson
Chance is the pseudonym God uses when He does not want to sign His name.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
One chance is all you need.
—Jesse Owens (1913–80) American Track-and-Field Athlete
How often events, by chance, and unexpectedly, come to pass, which you had not dared even to hope for!
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic Dramatist
In great affairs we ought to apply ourselves less to creating chances than to profiting from those that offer.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
I will prepare and some day my chance will come.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Chance is but the pseudonym of God for those particular cases which he does not choose to subscribe openly with his own sign-manual.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher