Chance and Luck

Winner every time? Really? Sometimes the odds can seem a little odd . . . and can even leave you feeling cheated . . .
 
“I understand life isn’t fair, but why couldn’t it just once be unfair in my favor?” -Christy Murphy
 
“The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.” -Bret Harte (Francis Bret ‘Bret’ Harte (1836 - 1902))
 
“All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck - who keeps right on going - is the man who is there when the good luck comes - and is ready to receive it.” -Robert Collier (1885 - 1950)
 
“Success in your life or business isn’t magic or luck, it is the result of knowledge of the right things to do.” -Stephen A. Matuszak
 
“Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish.” -Publius Ovidius Naso (also known simply as Ovid (43 B.C.E. - about C.E. 17))
 
“Sometimes, I drop pennies on the ground so that someone will have good luck.” -Author Unknown
 
Al: Why so glum?
Bert: I spent my lucky penny on a piece of bubblegum, and now the flavor in the gum is all gone.
 
“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 - 1887)
 
“People always call it luck when you’ve acted more sensibly than they have.” -Anne Tyler
 
“There is no one luckier than he who thinks himself so.” -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749 - 1832)
 
Hezikiah: Is it really unlucky to have a black cat cross your path?
Ichabod: Only if you are a mouse!
 
“A black cat crossing your path signifies that the animal is going somewhere.” -Groucho Marx (Julius Henry ‘Groucho’ Marx (1890 - 1977))
 
“Hard work beats luck every time.” -Author Unknown
 
“Gambling: The sure way of getting nothing from something.” -Wilson Mizner (1876 - 1933)
 
“Some people like to boast about their winnings in gambling, lotteries, card games, and other games of chance. What they will not tell you is that in winning a couple of dollars, they lost hundreds of dollars.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“To persuade people not to gamble is to win for them.” -Author Unknown
 
Lottery: 1. A tax on people who are bad at math. 2. A tax on people who don’t understand statistics.
 
“‘Luck’ is a very good word if you put a ‘p’ before it.” -Author Unknown
 
“Luck is mere statistical probability that can, and does, befall each and all to varying extents. The ability to take luck, happenstance, good fortune, windfalls, and so forth, and use them to advantage, to build on them, and to reap even greater benefits thereof, is what makes the difference between what we call lucky and unlucky people.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“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 (born 1944)
 
“I broke a mirror in my house, I’m supposed to get seven years of bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five.” -Steven Wright (Steven Alexander Wright (born 1955))
 
“Luck always seems to be against the man who depends on it.” -Author Unknown
 
“The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work.” -Harry Golden
 
“Depend on the rabbit’s foot if you will, but remember, it didn’t work for the rabbit.” -R. E. Shay
 
“A lucky rabbit’s foot is not so lucky if you are a rabbit.” -Author Unknown
 
“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.” -Walter Pater (1839 - 1894)
 
“When the wild bird lacks food, all the Earth is before him.” -Author Unknown
 
“Luck is usually good planning, carefully executed.” -Joe Moore
 
“A wise man turns chance into good fortune.” -Thomas Fuller (1608 - 1661)
 
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” -Lucius Annaeus Seneca (also known as Seneca the Younger or simply Seneca (3 B.C.E. - C.E. 65))
 
“The only good luck many great men ever had was being born with the ability and determination to overcome bad luck.” -Channing Pollock
 
“Even bad luck is good for something, in a wise man’s hands.” -Author Unknown
 
“Luck: A fortuitous random outcome of circumstance, which a fool interprets in any other way.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“He’s so unlucky that he runs into accidents which started out to happen to somebody else.” -Don Marquis (Donald Robert Perry ‘Don’ Marquis (1878 - 1937))
 
“Some people are so fond of ill-luck that they run half-way to meet it.” -Douglas Jerrold: “Meeting Troubles Half-Way” (1859)
 
Luck and Chance Quiz
- Are people born lucky or unlucky?
- What is the relationship between luck and superstition?
- Do people make their own luck?
- Can thinking bring good luck or bad luck?
 
“When I work fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, I get lucky.” -Armand Hammer (1898 - 1990)
 
“Fortuna suffragante.” [original Latin]
“With luck on our side.” [translation to English]
-Author Unknown
 
“The best throw of the dice is to throw them away, permanently.” -Author Unknown
 
“Luck is tenacity* of purpose.” -Elbert Hubbard (Elbert Green Hubbard (1856 - 1915))
*tenacity: persistence
 
“It’s hard to detect good luck - it looks so much like something you’ve earned.” -Frank A. Clark (Frank Atherton Clark (1911 - 1991))
 
Charms Said to Bring Good Luck
- An article of clothing or jewelry
- Four-leaf clover
- Horseshoe
- Penny
Can you think of others?
 
“Good luck charms don’t really bring good luck, except to the sellers, who pocket the profits made from selling the items.” -Author Unknown
 
“Nothing runs on guaranteed good luck.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“In reality, serendipity accounts for one percent of the blessings we receive in life, work, and love. The other ninety-nine percent is due to our efforts.” -Peter McWilliams
 
“Luck is when probability surprises you.” -Anthony R. Kesler
 
“If you engage in gambling, or games of chance, you will have to sell your furniture, your house, your clothes, your pets, your friends, and your family. How much are they worth, to you?” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“Those who mistake their good luck for their merit are inevitably bound for disaster.” -J. Christopher Herold
 
“People talk about getting lucky breaks in their careers. I’m living proof that the ‘lucky breaks’ theory is simply wrong. You get to make your own luck . . . The world is run by those who show up . . . not those who wait to be asked.” -Steve Blank
 
“Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.” -E. B. White (Elwyn Brooks White (1899 - 1985))
 
“Luck is when opportunity knocks and you answer.” -Author Unknown
 
“In a bet there is a fool and a thief.” -Author Unknown: proverb
 
“You don’t just luck into things as much as you’d like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it’s friendships or opportunities.” -Barbara Bush (born 1925)
 
“Go n-eiri an t-adh leat.” [original Irish Gaelic]
“Good luck.” [translation to English]
-Author Unknown
 
“Who is there that, shooting all day long, does not sometimes hit the mark?” -Marcus Tullius Cicero (also known simply as Cicero or Tully (106 B.C.E. - 43 B.C.E.))
 
“The harder I work, the luckier I get.” -Sam Goldwyn (Samuel ‘Sam’ Goldwyn (born Schmuel Gelbfisz (1882 - 1974)))
 
“By gaming, we lose both our time and treasure: two things most precious to the life of man.” -Owen Feltham (1602 - 1668)
 
“The only guaranteed way to win at gambling is to never gamble.” -Author Unknown
 
“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” -Cormac McCarthy
 
“Luck is largely a matter of paying attention.” -Susan M. Dodd
 
“The only ones who win every game of chance are the gambling establishments.” -David Hugh Beaumont (born 1966)
 
“The best luck of all is the luck you make yourself.” -Douglas MacArthur (1880 - 1964)
 
“Some folk want their luck buttered.” -Thomas Hardy
 
“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” -Author Unknown
 
“Chance favors those in motion.” -James H. Austin
 
“One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline - and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with luck.” -Carl Zuckmayer (1896 - 1977)
 
“Providence has nothing good or high in store for one who does not resolutely aim at something high or good. A purpose is the eternal condition of success.”  -T. T. Munger (Thornton Taft Munger (1883 - 1975))
 
“I figure you have the same chance of winning the lottery whether you play or not.” -Fran Lebowitz (Frances Ann ‘Fran’ Lebowitz (born 1950))
 
“It is the mark of an inexperienced man not to believe in luck.” -Joseph Conrad (born Teodor Józef Konrad Nalecz-Korzeniowski (1857 - 1924))
 
Rose: You lucky duck, you!
Roscoe: Quack, quack!
 
“I think luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it. Everyone has bad breaks but everyone also has opportunities. The man who can smile at his breaks and grab his chances gets on.” -Sam Goldwyn (Samuel ‘Sam’ Goldwyn (born Schmuel Gelbfisz (1882 - 1974)))
 
“Those who have succeeded at anything and don’t mention luck are kidding themselves.” -Larry King (pseudonym of Larry Zeigler)
 
“The greatest misfortune of all is not to be able to bear misfortune.” -Bias of Priene
 
“Fortune favors the brave.” [translation to English]
“Fortune favors the bold.” [variant translation to English]
“Audaces fortuna iuvat.” [original Latin]
-Publius Vergilius Maro (also known simply as Vergil or Virgil (70 B.C.E. - 19 B.C.E.)): “The Aeneid” (about 29 B.C.E. - 19 B.C.E.), book 10, line 284
 
Once upon a time, people believed that a horseshoe, hung above a doorway, would keep out mischievous spirits and bring good luck to a home. In most of Europe, the protective horseshoes were placed in a downward facing position, but in some parts of Ireland, Britain, and America, people believed that the shoes must be turned upward, because otherwise, “the luck would run out,” of them.
 
“Of course I don’t believe in it. But I understand that it brings you luck whether you believe in it or not.” -Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962), explaining why he had a horseshoe on his wall
 
“If you think you’re lucky, you’ll get better luck.” -Yukio Funai (1933 - 2014)
 
“How often things occur by mere chance which we dared not even hope for.” -Publius Terentius Afer (also known simply as Terence (185 B.C.E. - 159 B.C.E.))
 
“You gotta try your luck at least once a day, because you could be going around lucky all day and not even know it.” -Jimmy Dean
 
“Change of fortune is the lot of life.” -Author Unknown
 
“Good luck is often with the man who doesn’t include it in his plans. 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
 
“I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” -Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)
 
This is MFOL! . . . the website for the happy-go-lucky person you are . . .