The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Diligence is the mother of good luck.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.
—Brian Tracy (b.1944) American Author, Motivational Speaker
I was born lucky, and I have lived lucky. What I had was used. What I still have is being used. Lucky.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
Commerce is a game of skill, which every man cannot play, which few men can play well. The right merchant is one who has the just average of faculties we call commonsense; a man of strong affinity for facts, who makes up his decision on what he has seen. He is thoroughly persuaded of the truths of arithmetic. There is always a reason, in the man, for his good or bad fortune; and so, in making money. Men talk as if there were some magic about this, and believe in magic, in all parts of life. He knows that all goes on the old road, pound for pound, cent for cent-for every effect a perfect cause-and that good luck is another name for tenacity of purpose.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
When life appears to be working against you, when your luck is down, when the supposedly wrong people show up, or when you slip up and return to old, self-defeating habits, recognize the signs that you’re out of harmony with intention.
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English Humanist, Pacifist, Essayist, Short Story Writer, Satirist
Luck implies an absolute absence of any principle.
—Zhuang Zhou (c.369–c.286 BCE) Chinese Taoist Philosopher
Men of action are favored by the Goddess of luck.
—George Samuel Clason (1874–1957) American Businessperson, Author
What the reason of the ant laboriously drags into a heap, the wind of accident will collect in one breath.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
Combine common sense and the Golden Rule, and you will have very little bad luck.
—Unknown
Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
Luck? I don’t know anything about luck. I’ve never banked on it, and I’m afraid of people who do. Luck to me is something else: hard work—and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.
—Lucille Ball (1911–89) American Actor, Comedian, Model
Fortune is like the market, where many times, if you can stay a little, the price will fall.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
We must master our good fortune, or it will master us.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Diligence is the mother of good luck, and God gives all things to industry. Work while it is called today, for you know not how much you may be hindered tomorrow. One today is worth two tomorrows; never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet
I base my calculations on the expectation that luck will be against me
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
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
Fortune is the rod of the weak, and the staff of the brave.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Success is just a matter of luck, all you need to do is ask a failure. History may be written by academics but it’s rarely created by them.
—Unknown
I never knew an early-rising, hard-working, prudent man, careful of his earnings, and strictly honest who complained of bad luck.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Breaks balance out. The sun don’t shine on the same old dog’s rear end every day.
—Darrell Royal (1924–2012) American Football Player
We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don’t like?
—Jean Cocteau (1889–1963) French Poet, Playwright, Film Director
A person is unlucky who falls on his back and breaks his nose.
—French Proverb
Good luck is often with the man who doesn’t include it in his plans.
—Unknown
Throw a lucky man into the sea, and he will come up with a fish in his mouth.
—Arabic Proverb
You don’t need intelligence to have luck, but you do need luck to have intelligence.
—Yiddish Proverb
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
The man who is intent on making the most of his opportunities is too busy to bother about luck.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
It’s hard to detect good luck—it looks so much like something you’ve earned.
—Frank A. Clark
Marriage is a little bit like buying melons, you need a little luck.
—Spanish Proverb
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
—Joyce Carol Oates (b.1938) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Playwright, Poet, Literary Critic
Failure and success seem to have been allotted to men by their stars. But they retain the power of wriggling, of fighting with their star or against it, and in the whole universe the only really interesting movement is this wriggle.
—E. M. Forster (1879–1970) English Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist
Lady Luck generally woos those who earnestly, enthusiastically, unremittingly woo her.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
‘Tis man’s to fight, but Heaven’s to give success.
—Homer (751–651 BCE) Ancient Greek Poet
What we call luck is the inner man externalized. We make things happen to us.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canadian Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
Pennies do not come from heaven—they have to be earned here on earth.
—Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) British Head of State
Woe to him who would ascribe to something like reason to Chance, and make a religion of surrendering to it.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Eons have passed whirling rosary, restless remains the mind. Give up the beads of rosary and rotate the beads of mind.
—Kabir (1440–1518) Indian Mystic
What is luck? It is not only chance, it is also creating the opportunity, recognizing it when it is there, and taking it when it comes.
—Natasha Josefowitz
The winds and waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
Work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Don’t believe in miracles—depend on them.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author
I think that one can have luck if one tries to create an atmosphere of spontaneity.
—Federico Fellini (1920–93) Italian Filmmaker
The best luck of all is the luck you make for yourself.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
Some people go through life trying to find out what the world holds for them only to find out too late that it’s what they bring to the world that really counts.
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) Canadian Novelist
I would rather have a lucky general than a smart general in any battle. They win battles and they make me lucky.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
Life is not a spectacle or a feast; it is a predicament.
—George Santayana (1863–1952) Spanish-American Poet, Philosopher
Luck serves … as rationalization for every people that is not master of its own destiny.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist