Luck is not chance—
It’s Toil—
Fortune’s expensive smile
Is earned—
—Emily Dickinson (1830–86) American Poet
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
A stout heart breaks bad luck.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
Luck can be assisted. It is not all chance with the wise.
—Baltasar Gracian (1601–58) Spanish Scholar, Prose Writer
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
I was thinking of my patients, and how the worst moment for them was when they discovered they were masters of their own fate. It was not a matter of bad or good luck. When they could no longer blame fate, they were in despair.
—Anais Nin (1903–77) French-American Essayist
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 (1804–65) British Politician, Economist
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
The worst cynicism: a belief in luck.
—Joyce Carol Oates (b.1938) American Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Literary Critic
They who await no gifts from chance have conquered fate.
—Matthew Arnold (1822–88) English Poet, Critic
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
Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
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
Substance is not enough, accident is also required.
—Italian Proverb
Luck serves … as rationalization for every people that is not master of its own destiny.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist
No man ever wetted clay and then left it, as if there would be bricks by chance and fortune.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
If fate means you to lose, give him a good fight anyhow.
—William McFee (1881–1966) English Writer
What we call luck is the inner man externalized. We make things happen to us.
—Robertson Davies (1913–95) Canadian Novelist, Playwright, Essayist
I was forced to live far beyond my years when just a child, now I have reversed the order and I intend to remain young indefinitely.
—Mary Pickford (1893–1979) American-Canadian Actor, Producer
Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstances. It was somebody’s name, or he happened to be there at the time, or it was so then, and another day it would have been otherwise.—Strong men believe in cause and effect.—The man was born to do it, and his father was born to be the father of him and of this deed, and by looking narrowly, you shall see there was no luck in the matter, but it was all a problem in arithmetic, or an experiment in chemistry.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
To be lucky you need a little wit.
—Italian Proverb
The harder I work, the luckier I get.
—Samuel Goldwyn (1879–1974) Polish-born American Film Producer, Businessperson
You don’t need intelligence to have luck, but you do need luck to have intelligence.
—Yiddish Proverb
To wait for luck is the same as waiting for death.
—Japanese Proverb
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, Satirist, Short Story Writer
If you wait for luck to help you, you’ll have often an empty stomach.
—Ignaz Bernstein (1836–1909) Russian-Jewish Bibliophile
Vicissitude of fortune which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, but buries empires and cities in a common grave.
—Edward Gibbon (1737–94) English Historian, Politician
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
It’s hard to detect good luck—it looks so much like something you’ve earned.
—Frank A. Clark
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