How things look on the outside of us depends on how things are on the inside of us. Stay close to the heart of nature and forget this troubled world. Remember, there is nothing wrong with nature; the trouble is in ourselves.
—Parks Cousins
Chance favors the prepared mind.
—Louis Pasteur (1822–95) French Biologist
The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.
—Lou Holtz (1893–1980) American Stage Performer
A consistent soul believes in destiny, a capricious one in chance.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.
—Unknown
Chance usually favors the prudent man.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Circumstances may cause interruptions and delays, but never lose sight of your goal. Prepare yourself in every way you can by increasing your knowledge and adding to your experience, so that you can make the most of opportunity when it occurs.
—Mario Andretti (b.1940) Italian-born American Sportsperson
I will prepare and some day my chance will come.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
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
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
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
It is our relation to circumstances that determines their influence over us. The same wind that carries one vessel into port may blow another off shore.
—Christian Nestell Bovee (1820–1904) American Writer, Aphorist
The pseudonym for God when He did not want to sign.
—Anatole France (1844–1924) French Novelist
Don’t call a man honest just because he never had the chance to steal.
—Yiddish Proverb
Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
—William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) American Political leader, Diplomat, Politician
Be not too presumptuously sure in any business; for things of this world depend on such a train of unseen chances that if it were in man’s hands to set the tables, still he would not be certain to win the game.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
It is a fact that you project what you are.
—Norman Vincent Peale (1898–1993) American Clergyman, Self-Help Author
There are no chances so unlucky from which clever people are not able to reap some advantage, and none so lucky that the foolish are not able to turn them to their own disadvantage.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
Men are the sport of circumstances, when the circumstances seem the sport of men.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Every chance taken is another chance to win.
—Unknown
How we think shows through in how we act. Attitudes are mirrors of the mind. They reflect thinking.
—David J. Schwartz (1927–87) American Self-help Author
Grab a chance and you won’t be sorry for a might have been.
—Arthur Ransome (1884–1967) English Journalist, Children’s Writer
Chance fights ever on the side of the prudent.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will—whatever we may think.
—Lawrence Durrell (1912–90) British Biographer, Poet, Playwright, Novelist
Chance is a word devoid of sense, nothing can exist without a cause.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Necessity is the mother of taking chances.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
How often things occur by mere chance which we dared not even hope for.
—Terence (c.195–159 BCE) Roman Comic 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
Chance generally favors the prudent.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Chance corrects us of many faults that reason would not know how to correct.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer