Gambling, in all countries, is the vice of the aristocracy.—The young find it established in the best circles, and enticed by the habits of others they are ruined when the habit becomes their own.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
It is possible that a wise and good man may be prevailed on to gamble; but it is impossible that a professed gamester should be a wise and good man.
—Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) Swiss Theologian, Poet
In gambling the many must lose in order that the few may win.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
One should always play fair when one has the winning cards.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Whenever you see a gaming table be sure to know fortune is not there. Rather she is always in the company of industry.
—Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) Irish Novelist, Playwright, Poet
Someone once asked me why women don’t gamble as much as men do, and I gave the common-sensical reply that we don’t have as much money. That was a true but incomplete answer. In fact, women’s total instinct for gambling is satisfied by marriage.
—Gloria Steinem (b.1934) American Feminist, Journalist, Social Activist, Political Activist
Man is a gaming animal. He must always be trying to get the better in something or other.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
No wife can endure a gambling husband, unless he is a steady winner.
—Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar (1864–1930) Scottish Businessperson
The dice of Zeus always fall luckily.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Gambling is the child of avarice, but the parent of prodigality.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Of all mechanics, of all servile handycrafts-men, a gamester is the vilest. But yet, as many of the quality are of the profession, he is admitted amongst the politest company.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
The urge to gamble is so universal and its practice so pleasurable that I assume it must be evil.
—Heywood Broun (1888–1939) American Journalist
Curst is the wretch enslaved to such a vice, who ventures life and soul upon the dice.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
I can’t believe that God put us on this earth to be ordinary.
—Lou Holtz (1893–1980) American Stage Performer
I have a notion that gamblers are as happy as most people, being always excited; women, wine, fame, the table, even ambition, sate now and then, but every turn of the card and cast of the dice keeps the gambler alive—besides one can game ten times longer than one can do any thing else.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Luck never gives; it only lends.
—Swedish Proverb
You cannot get anything out of nature or from God by gambling; only out of your neighbor.
—John Ruskin (1819–1900) English Writer, Art Critic
The gambling known as business looks with austere disfavor upon the business known as gambling.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
Gambling undermines the moral fiber of society.
—Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) American Mormon Religious Leader
He was a degenerate gambler. That is, a man who gambled simply to gamble and must lose. As a hero who goes to war must die. Show me a gambler and I’ll show you a loser, show me a hero and I’ll show you a corpse.
—Mario Puzo (1920–99) Novelist, Screenwriter, Journalist
The gamester, if he die a martyr to his profession, is doubly ruined; he adds his soul to every other loss, and by the act of suicide renounces earth to forfeit heaven.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it.
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
All gaming, since it implies a desire to profit at the expense of others, involves a breach of the tenth commandment.
—Richard Whately (1787–1863) English Philosopher, Theologian
Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
There are two great pleasures in gambling: that of winning and that of losing.
—French Proverb
An assembly of the states or a court of justice, shows nothing so serious and grave as a table of gamesters playing very high; a melancholy solicitude clouds their looks; envy and rancor agitate their minds while the meeting lasts, without regard to friendship, alliances, birth, or distinctions.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
A gambler with a System must be, to a greater or lesser extent, insane.
—George Augustus Henry Sala (1828–95) British Journalist
Although men of eminent genius have been guilty of all other vices, none worthy of more than a secondary name has ever been a gamester. Either an excess of avarice, or a deficiency of excitability, is the cause of it; neither of which can exist in the same bosom with genius, patriotism, or virtue.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
Play not for gain, but sport; who plays for more than he can lose with pleasure stakes his heart.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
If thou desire to raise thy fortunes by the casts of fortune, be wise betimes, lest thou repent too late.—What thou winnest, is prodigally spent.—What thou losest, is prodigally lost.—It is an evil trade that prodigality drives, and a bad voyage where the pilot is blind.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet