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9a9b3dc Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect. causality causation cause-and-effect chance darwinism inspirational kalam-cosmological-argument luck naturalism necessity serendipity Ralph Waldo Emerson
9cce6ab Oh, I am fortune's fool! fate fortune luck William Shakespeare
b2af367 "Frank heard a laugh behind him. He glanced back and couldn't believe what he saw. Nico di Angelo was actually smiling. "That's more like it," Nico said. "Let's turn this tide!" battle blessing destiny fate fortune frank-zhang happiness happy heroes-of-olympus house-of-hades luck nico-di-angelo percy-jackson rick-riordan surprise tides-have-turned turning-point Rick Riordan
ef7d4f9 In Madeleine's face was a stupidity Mitchell had never seen before. It was the stupidity of all normal people. It was the stupidity of the fortunate and the beautiful, of everybody who got what they wanted in life and so remained unremarkable. luck stupidity Jeffrey Eugenides
3eeca42 Million-to-one chances...crop up nine times out of ten. luck Terry Pratchett
a73dabc Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known. luck Garrison Keillor
0a8817f Since Alice had never received any religious instruction, and since she had led a blameless life, she never thought of her awful luck as being anything but accidents in a very busy place. Good for her. belief fate luck religion Kurt Vonnegut
fb1f9d8 "Luck?" Drizzt replied. "Perhaps. But more often, I dare to say, luck is simply the advantage a true warrior gains in excuting the correct course of action." advantage luck warrior R.A. Salvatore
c4bf14e Nearly' only counts in horseshoes and hand-grenades. failure luck near-hits near-misses nearly success Neil Gaiman
33ba8e1 "And then it occurs to me. They are frightened. In me, they see their own daughters, just as ignorant, just as unmindful of all the truths and hopes they have brought to America. They see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese, who think they are stupid when they explain things in fractured English. They see that joy and luck do not mean the same to their daughters, that to these closed American-born minds "joy luck" is not a word, it does not exist. They see daughters who will bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope passed from generation to generation." concepts daughters family fear heritage hope ideas immigration joy language luck mothers perception tradition women Amy Tan
33c8e5d He was just a coward and that was the worst luck any many could have. luck Ernest Hemingway
20d9330 The fish is my friend too...I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him. I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars. Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon, he thought. The moon runs away. But imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun? We were born lucky; he thought killing luck man moon nature stars sun Ernest Hemingway
e54f0bf Nobody knows anything...... Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess and, if you're lucky, an educated one. humor luck William Goldman
c5b85e2 What's so funny? (Astrid) I'm just thinking, here I am a slave who touched a star who then made him a demigod. I have to be the luckiest bastard who ever lived. (Zarek) love luck star Sherrilyn Kenyon
798f9a5 It's a question of attitude. If you really work at something you can do it up to a point. If you really work at being happy you can do it up to a point. But anything more than that you can't. Anything more than that is luck. life luck Haruki Murakami
e00b13a If I could, I'd write a huge encyclopedia just about the words luck and coincidence inspirational luck quote the-alchemist Paulo Coelho
4c10ae1 "But Gemma, you could change the world." "That should take far more than my power," I say. "True. But change needn't happen all at once. It can be small gestures." "Moments. Do you understand?" He's looking at me differently now, though I cannot say how. I only know I need to look away... We pass by the pools, where the mud larks sift. And for only a few seconds, I let the magic loose again. "Oi! By all the saints!" a boy cries from the river. "Gone off the dock?" an old woman calls. The mud larks break into cackles. "'S not a rock!" he shouts. He races out of the fog, cradling something in his palm. Curiosity gets the better of the others. They crowd about trying to see. In his palm is a smattering of rubies. "We're rich mates! It's a hot bath and a full belly for every one of us!" Kartik eyes me suspiciously. "That was a strange stroke of good fortune." "Yes it was." "I don't suppose that was your doing." "I'm not sure I don't know what you mean," I say. And that is how change happens. One gesture. One person. One moment at a time." gemma-doyle kartik luck magic small Libba Bray
3d740c7 Each spice has a special day to it. For turmeric it is Sunday, when light drips fat and butter-colored into the bins to be soaked up glowing, when you pray to the nine planets for love and luck. luck spice sunday turmeric Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
417a2c2 Only I have no luck any more. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready. hard-work hemingway luck preparation the-old-man-and-the-sea Ernest Hemingway
c22ee87 Even fools say something worthwhile now and again. Even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes. luck wisdom Robert Jordan
44a6c8a We are all a great deal luckier that we realize, we usually get what we want - or near enough. happiness luck Roald Dahl
c67fb01 "Fortune favours the brave, sir," said Carrot cheerfully. "Good. Good. Pleased to hear it, captain. What is her position vis a vis heavily armed, well prepared and excessively manned armies?" "Oh, no-one's ever heard of Fortune favouring them, sir." "According to General Tacticus, it's because they favour themselves," said Vimes. He opened the battered book. Bits of paper and string indicated his many bookmarks. "In fact, men, the general has this to say about ensuring against defeat when outnumbered, out-weaponed and outpositioned. It is..." he turned the page, "'Don't Have a Battle.'" "Sounds like a clever man," said Jenkins. He pointed to the yellow horizon. "See all that stuff in the air?" he said. "What do you think that is?" "Mist?" said Vimes. "Hah, yes. Klatchian mist! It's a sandstorm! The sand blows about all the time. Vicious stuff. If you want to sharpen your sword, just hold it up in the air." "Oh." "And it's just as well because otherwise you'd see Mount Gebra. And below it is what they call the Fist of Gebra. It's a town but there's a bloody great fort, walls thirty feet thick. 's like a big city all by itself. 's got room inside for thousands of armed men, war elephants, battle camels, everything. And if you saw that, you'd want me to turn round right now. Whats your famous general got to say about it, eh?" "I think I saw something..." said Vimes. He flicked to another page. "Ah, yes, he says, 'After the first battle of Sto Lat, I formulated a policy which has stood me in good stead in other battles. It is this: if the enemy has an impregnable stronghold, see he stays there.'" "That's a lot of help," said Jenkins. Vimes slipped the book into a pocket. "So, Constable Visit, there's a god on our side, is there?" "Certainly, sir." "But probably also a god on their side as well?" "Very likely, sir. There's a god on every side." "Let's hope they balance out, then." invasion luck war Terry Pratchett
c78055a Sene sovya caba'donde ain dovienya knives luck mat-cauthon melindhra wheel-of-time Robert Jordan
e9ecaa5 On the bright side, I'm sure this isn't the last time you'll ever get firebombed, so maybe you'll have better luck next time. luck Janet Evanovich
488beb7 "Another mistaken notion connected with the law of large numbers is the idea that an event is more or less likely to occur because it has or has not happened recently. The idea that the odds of an event with a fixed probability increase or decrease depending on recent occurrences of the event is called the gambler's fallacy. For example, if Kerrich landed, say, 44 heads in the first 100 tosses, the coin would not develop a bias towards the tails in order to catch up! That's what is at the root of such ideas as "her luck has run out" and "He is due." That does not happen. For what it's worth, a good streak doesn't jinx you, and a bad one, unfortunately , does not mean better luck is in store." luck math probability statistics Leonard Mlodinow
a3bac41 If grace belongs to God, there are those who say that luck belongs to the Devil and that he looks after his own. god grace luck Sarah Dunant
35b437f Beware what you wish for, unless you have the grace to hope that your luck can be shared. hopes luck Christopher Hitchens
5a0e50b Together they spent their whole lives waiting for their luck to change, as though luck were some fabulous tide that would one day flood and consecrate the marshes of our island, christening us in the iridescent ointments of a charmed destiny. destiny island landscape luck south-carolina Pat Conroy
e37929a "We still counted happiness and health and love and luck and beautiful children as "ordinary blessings." children happiness health love luck Joan Didion
67f0995 Living did not mean one joy piled upon another. It was merely the hope for less pain, hope played like a playing card upon another hope, a wish for kindnesses and mercies to emerge like kings and queens in an unexpected change of the game. One could hold the cards oneself or not: they would land the same regardless. lorrie-moore luck Lorrie Moore
f856dca "Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed," she said, "and broke my heartstrings too. There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks." blacks luck race-relations racism whites Toni Morrison
48eaa4b He talked about luck and fate and numbers coming up, yet he never ventured a nickel at the casinos because he knew the house had all the percentages. And beneath his pessimism, his bleak conviction that all the machinery was rigged against him, at the bottom of his soul was a faith that he was going to outwit it, that by carefully watching the signs he was going to know when to dodge and be spared. It was fatalism with a loophole, and all you had to do to make it work was never miss a sign. Survival by coordination, as it were. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but to those who can see it coming and jump aside. Like a frog evading a shillelagh in a midnight marsh. existential fate luck Hunter S. Thompson
4abd358 They claimed no allegiance to any flag and valued no currency but luck and good contacts. luck Hunter S. Thompson
155eb04 For some people, she thought, trials were only temporary; they sailed towards happiness through the roughest weather. luck Emma Donoghue
a10fdc3 He is where he is supposed to be. And yet the place he has found is also of his own choosing. That is a piece of luck not to be despised. fate luck Cormac McCarthy
be70123 Patience's design flaw became obvious for the first time in my life: the outcome is decided not during the course of play but when the cards are shuffled, before the game even begins. How pointless is that? luck patience solitaire David Mitchell
c84df7a A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them. luck trust P.J. O'Rourke
c5a9ba0 There are two ways to find a lost city. The first is to rely on luck alone, the second is to control all the information. luck quest search Tahir Shah
36a39ac "My mother believed in God's will for many years. It was af if she had turned on a celestial faucet and goodness kept pouring out. She said it was faith that kept all these good things coming our way, only I thought she said "fate" because she couldn't pronounce the "th" sound in "faith". And later I discovered that maybe it was fate all along, that faith was just an illusion that somehow you're in control. I found out the most could have was hope, and with that I wasn't denying any possibility, good or bad. I was just saying, If there is a choice, dear God or whatever you are, here's where the odds should be placed. I remember the day I started thinking this, it was such a revelation to me. It was the day my mother lost her faith in God. She found that things of unquestioned certainty could never be trusted again. We had gone to the beach, to a secluded spot south of the city near Devil's Slide. My father had read in magazine that this was a good place to catch ocean perch. And although my father was not a fisherman but a pharmacist's assistant who had once been a doctor in China, he believed in his , his ability to do anything he put his mind to. My mother believed she had to cook anything my father had a mind to catch. It was this belief in their that had brought my parents to America. It had enabled them to have seven children and buy a house in Sunset district with very little money. It had given them the confidence to believe their luck would never run out, that God was on their side, that house gods had only benevolent things to report and our ancestors were pleased, that lifetime warranties meant our lucky streak would never break, that all the elements were now in balance, the right amount of wind and water." fate god luck Amy Tan
ca4ca9a What is luck', he said, 'but the ability to exploit accidents? luck serendipity Jeanette Winterson
e4f2a75 Hazard has conditioned us to live in hazard. All our pleasures are dependant upon it. Even though I arrange for a pleasure; and look forward to it, my eventual enjoyment of it is still a matter of hazard. Wherever time passes, there is hazard. You may die before you turn the next page. fortune hazards luck John Fowles
075a85f The reason I like the game chess is because each move has countless repercussions, but you're in charge of them. And it's your ability to see into the future and the effects of the decisions you've made that males you either a good or not a good chess player. It's not luck. decisions luck Bono
bd774ef Are you what is called a lucky man? Well, you are sad every day. Each day has its great grief or its little care. Yesterday you were trembling for the health of one who is dear to you, today you fear for your own; tomorrow it will be an anxiety about money, the next day the slanders of a calumniator, the day after the misfortune of a friend; then the weather, then something broken or lost, then a pleasure for which you are reproached by your conscience or your vertebral column; another time, the course of public affairs. Not to mention heartaches. And so on. One cloud is dissipated, another gathers. Hardly one day in a hundred of unbroken joy and sunshine. And you are of that small number who are lucky! As for other men, stagnant night is upon them. happiness luck misery Victor Hugo
c6afc3d Do adults realize how lucky they are? luck lucky Stephanie Perkins
762b1c3 Life proceeds, it enrages. The untouched ones spend their luck without a thought, believing they deserve it. luck lucky-people the-lacuna Barbara Kingsolver
488e16d You need to give money when someone gives you a knife. So the bad luck won't cut you. I wouldn't like it for you to be cut by the bad luck, Jimmy. luck money Margaret Atwood
0c1df66 For luck you carried a horse chestnut and a rabbit's foot in your right pocket. The fur had been worn off the rabbit's foot long ago and the bones and the sinews were polished by the wear. The claws scratched in the lining of your pocket and you knew your luck was still there. luck paris Ernest Hemingway
78e681e Sorcerers believe that an action taken for the right reasons has an unreasonable chance of success. adventure-travel fairy-tales-fairytale fantasy luck lucky-people magic middle-grade-fantasy Gail Carson Levine
a1c0b0c [His coat] emitted an odor of bus station so desolate that just standing next to him you could feel your luck changing for the worse. luck Michael Chabon
620edbe Ilse and I hunted all over the old orchard today for a four-leaved clover and couldn't find one. Then I found one in a clump of clover by the dairy steps tonight when I was straining the milk and never thinking of clovers. Cousin Jimmy says that is the way luck always comes, and it is no use to look for it. good-luck luck L.M. Montgomery
bcf9392 ...a woman's always safe and comfortable when a fellow's down on his luck. louisa-may-alcott luck Louisa May Alcott
4743a4e There can be no doubt that the chief fault we have developed, through the long course of human evolution, is a certain basic passivity. When provoked by challenges, human beings are magnificent. When life is quiet and even, we take the path of least resistance, and then wonder why we feel bored. A man who is determined and active doesn't pay much attention to 'luck'. If things go badly, he takes a deep breath and redoubles his effort. And he quickly discovers that his moments of deepest happiness often come after such efforts. The man who has become accustomed to a passive existence becomes preoccupied with 'luck'; it may become an obsession. When things go well, he is delighted and good humored; when they go badly, he becomes gloomy and petulant. He is unhappy--or dissatisfied--most of the time, for even when he has no cause for complaint, he feels that gratitude would be premature; things might go wrong at any moment; you can't really trust the world... Gambling is one basic response to this passivity, revealing the obsession with luck, the desire to make things happen. The absurdity about this attitude is that we fail to recognize the active part we play in making life a pleasure. When my will is active, my whole mental and physical being works better, just as my digestion works better if I take exercise between meals. I gain an increasing feeling of control over my life, instead of the feeling of helplessness (what Sartre calls 'contingency') that comes from long periods of passivity. Yet even people who are intelligent enough to recognize this find the habit of passivity so deeply ingrained that they find themselves holding their breath when things go well, hoping fate will continue to be kind. fate luck sartre willpower Colin Wilson
97a7a22 According to an ancient Chinese legend, one day in the year 240 B.C., Princess Si Ling-chi was sitting under a mulberry tree when a silkworm cocoon fell into her teacup. When she tried to remove it, she noticed that the cocoon had begun to unravel in the hot liquid. She handed the loose end to her maidservant and told her to walk. The servant went out of the princess's chamber, and into the palace courtyard, and through the palace gates, and out of the Forbidden City, and into the countryside a half mile away before the cocoon ran out. (In the West, this legend would slowly mutate over three millennia, until it became the story of a physicist and an apple. Either way, the meanings are the same: great discoveries, whether of silk or of gravity, are always windfalls. They happen to people loafing under trees.) luck privilege silk story-telling Jeffrey Eugenides
95ad372 Dad's death didn't hollow me out the way Helen's had. After all, everyone had assumed Dad was a goner back when he got kicked in the head as a child. Instead, he had cheated death and, despite his gimp and speech impediment, lived a long life doing pretty much what he wanted. He hadn't drawn the best of cards, but he'd played his hand darned well, so what was there to grieve over? life luck Jeannette Walls
0395cf4 Luck is when those who are prepared take advantage of the moment. luck success Raymond E. Feist
6567e86 He had fought wizards (though not because he wished to), battled goblinkin (only because running hadn't been an option at the time), and faced incredible monsters (drat the luck he sometimes had when he thought about it). luck Mel Odom
de26443 It's lucky I was there. Then again, who am I kidding? I'm in most places at least once, and in 1943, I was just about everywhere. death luck Markus Zusak
0aa276e Respect, wealth, property, friendship, even love. Did I expect to simply fall over each of them as I strolled aimlessly through the years? Was I expecting my whole life to be some form of lucky accident? luck personal-planning sales sales-advice sales-effectiveness sales-training selling success success-in-business success-in-life success-quotes success-self-improvement success-strategies successful-living Chris Murray
a1a7e68 "You did a politics project on a government that got overthrown on the due date? Man, did anybody ever tell you you've got no luck?" "I suspected it," said Raymond ironically." humor luck politics project school Gordon Korman
d033be6 "It's luck. All is luck when skill's played out. It was luck left me with a face that didn't fit in Contact, it's luck that's made you a great game-player, it's luck that's put you here tonight. Neither of us were fully planned, Jernau Gurgeh; your genes determined you and your mother's genofixing made certain you would not be a cripple or mentally subnormal. The rest is chance. I was brought into being with the freedom to be myself; if what that general plan and that particular luck produced is something a majority -- a majority, mark you; not all -- of one SC admissions board decides is not what they just happen to want, is it my fault? Is it?" "No," Gurgeh sighed, looking down. "Oh, it's all so wonderful in the Culture, isn't it, Gurgeh; nobody starves and nobody dies of disease or natural disasters and nobody and nothing's exploited, but there's still luck and heartache and joy, there's still chance and advantage and disadvantage." luck Iain M. Banks
623b224 Your grandmother thought--no, she believed, it was like a faith for her. She believed it the way some people believe in God or science. She believed that it was the rules that made her life so easy. She thought life was about the rules people make for it, as if life was some kind of a board game and if you had a little luck, and you kept to the rules, you'd end up winning. Or maybe she thought it was like a game of solitaire and once the cards had been shuffled and laid out, if you had a good draw you were safe, as if it was arranged for you to win. Or to lose, although Grandmother considered herself someone who had won, since all she had to do once she was born was follow the rules. But really, life's like a game of bridge: You're dealt a hand and it can be a winning hand or a losing one, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you'll win or lose because there are other people at the table, your partner for one, and the other ream for another, that's three people...playing too, and people make mistakes, multiply that times three too, or you can just be smarter than they are. And luckier too, because anybody who sits down to play bridge or life without figuring out how much luck is involved is making a Big Mistake. I don't want you girls doing that. cards life-philosophy luck rules Cynthia Voigt
246c7ff "Monsieur Foinet got up and made as if to go, but he changed his mind, and, stopping, put his hand on Philip's shoulder. "But if you were going to ask me my advice, I should say: take your courage in both hands and try your luck at something else. It sounds very hard, but let me tell you this: I would give all I have in the world if someone had given me that advice when I was your age and I had taken it." Philip looked up at him with surprise. The master forced his lips into a smile, but his eyes remained grave and sad. "It is cruel to discover one's mediocrity only when it's too late. It does not improve the temper." He gave a little laugh as he said the last words and quickly walked out of the room." courage luck mediocrity temper W. Somerset Maugham
2dff924 He looked at me. His firm, broad face showed weight-loss in deep shadows under the cheekbones, his eyes were sunken and his mouth sorely chapped and cracked. God knows what I looked like, when he looked like that. He smiled. 'With luck we shall make it, and without luck we shall not.' luck Ursula K. Le Guin
ae7df64 Hals und Beinbruch, Saukerl. luck wishes Markus Zusak
3f582cc Life is a matter of luck, and the odds in favor of success are in no way enhanced by extreme caution. -- WWII German U-Boat Commander Eric Topp life luck Robert Kurson
dcc65e5 "Robin, he chided her. He wanted to tell her all this would happen to her, too, that her luck would turn as well. But he had no good arguments for this, and she had no reason to believe him. Such luck as his was far too rare. "I hope it all works out," she said, looking up, and then, as if afraid to sound too stingy, she added, "I'm sure it will." He bent down to kiss her, but she turned away slightly, and his lips brushed her ear as he whispered, "Please be happy for me." love luck science suffering Allegra Goodman
6ee9039 There are, he assures her, no such things as curses. There is luck, maybe, bad or good. A slight indication of each day toward success or failure. But no curses. luck Anthony Doerr
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