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
Adventure upon all the tickets in the lottery, and you lose for certain; and the greater the number of your tickets the nearer your approach to this certainty.
—George Goodman (b.1930) American Economist, Author
Gambling is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.
—George Washington (1732–99) American Head of State, Military Leader
The mines of knowledge are often laid bare by the hazel-wand of chance.
—Martin Farquhar Tupper (1810–89) English Poet, Writer
Necessity is the mother of taking chances.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
In America nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you.
—Amy Tan (b.1952) Chinese-American Novelist
Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.
—James Lane Allen (1849–1925) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
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
Be nice to nerds. Chances are you’ll end up working for one.
—Bill Gates (b.1955) American Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Author
It is through chance that, from among the various individuals of which each of us is composed, one emerges rather than another.
—Henri de Montherlant (1895–1972) French Essayist, Novelist, Dramatist
We are exactly where we have chosen to be.
—Vernon Howard (1918–92) American Spiritual Teacher, Philosopher
Chance is a word devoid of sense, nothing can exist without a cause.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
He is happy whose circumstances suit his temper; but he is more excellent who can suit his temper to any circumstances.
—David Hume (1711–76) Scottish Philosopher, Historian
Chance never helps those who do not help themselves.
—Sophocles (495–405 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
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 wise man turns chance into good fortune.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Chance never write a legible book; never built a fair house; never drew a neat picture; never did any of these things, nor ever will; nor can it, without absurdity, be supposed to do them, which are yet works very gross and rude, and very easy and feasible, as it were, in comparison to the production of a flower or a tree.
—Isaac Barrow
There is no such thing as no chance.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
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
When the cat and the mouse agree the farmer doesn’t stand a chance.
—Danish Proverb
Circumstances hell! I make circumstances!
—Bruce Lee (1940–73) American Martial Artist, Actor, Philosopher
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
Nothing important was ever achieved without someone taking a chance.
—H. Jackson Brown, Jr. (b.1940) American Self-Help Author
If you want to be successful, you must either have a chance or take one.
—Unknown
One chance is all you need.
—Jesse Owens (1913–80) American Track-and-Field Athlete
Don’t call a man honest just because he never had the chance to steal.
—Yiddish Proverb
Chance has something to say in everything, even how to write a good letter.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
The best men are not those who have waited for chances but who have taken them; besieged the chance; conquered the chance; and made chance the servitor.
—Edwin Hubbell Chapin (1814–80) American Preacher, Poet
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
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
He who trusts all things to chance, makes a lottery of his life
—Common Proverb
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
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
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
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
If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances, it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
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
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
Chance favors those in motion.
—James H. Austin American Buddhist Neuroscientist, Scientist, Author, Academic
Chance generally favors the prudent.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
You are where you are today because you’ve chosen to be there.
—Harry Browne (1933–2006) American Politician, Investor, Writer
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
There is nothing in life so irrational, that good sense and chance may not set it to rights; nothing so rational, that folly and chance may not utterly confound it.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Chance does nothing that has not been prepared beforehand.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The “sure thing” boat never gets far from shore.
—Dale Carnegie (1888–1955) American Self-Help Author
The best we can do is size up the chances, calculate the risks involved, estimate our ability to deal with them, and then make our plans with confidence.
—Henry Ford (1863–1947) American Businessperson, Engineer
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
The successful man is one who had the chance and took it.
—Roger Babson (1875–1967) American Economist
Virtue comes not from chance but long study.
—Italian Proverb