Quotes
Quotes about Fortune
To be or not to be that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the stings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or take up arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing them, end them. Hamlet
Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm.
Fortune always fights on the side of the prudent.
Now conquering Rome doth conquered Rome inter, And she the vanquished is, and vanquisher. To show us where she stood there rests alone Tiber; and that too hastens to be gone. Learn, hence what fortune can. Towns glide away; And rivers, which are still in motion, stay.
No one is satisfied with his fortune, nor dissatisfied with his intellect. [Fr., Nul n'est content de sa fortune; Ni mecontent de son esprit.]
The Scots are poor, cries surly English pride; True is the charge, nor by themselves denied. Are they not then in strictest reason clear, Who wisely come to mend their fortunes here?
To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature. -Much Ado about Nothing. Act iii. Sc. 3.
Fortune reigns in gifts of the world. -As You Like It. Act i. Sc. 2.
One out of suits with fortune. -As You Like It. Act i. Sc. 2.
My pride fell with my fortunes. -As You Like It. Act i. Sc. 2.
And rail'd on Lady Fortune in good terms, In good set terms. -As You Like It. Act ii. Sc. 7.
She makes her hand hard with labour, and her heart soft with pity: and when winter evenings fall early (sitting at her merry wheel), she sings a defiance to the giddy wheel of fortune . . . and fears no manner of ill because she means none.
In every adversity of fortune, to have been happy is the most unhappy kind of misfortune. [Lat., In omni adversitate fortunae, infelicissimum genus est infortunii fuisse felicem.]
For of Fortune's sharpe adversite, The worste kynde of infortune is this, A man to hav bent in prosperite, And it remembren whan it passed is.
Success is the necessary misfortune of life, but it is only to the very unfortunate that it comes early.
Who doubting tyranny, and fainting under Fortune's false lottery, desperately run To death, for dread of death; that soul's most stout, That, bearing all mischance, dares last it out.
No radiant pearl, which crested Fortune wears, No gem that twinkling hangs from Beauty's wars. Not the bright stars which Night's blue arch adorn, Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn, Shine with such lustre as the tear that flows Down Virtue's manly cheek for others' woes.
Fortune favors the bold, but abandons the timid.
The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair though fear alone.
To be, or not to be--that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep-- No more--and by a sleep to say we end The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks That flesh is heir to.
Written about Washington after his death by another of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson: His mind was great and powerful ... as far as he saw, no judgment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion.... Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw doubt, but, when once decided, going through his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was the most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known.... He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good and a great man ... On the whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect ... it may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great....
Dame Nature gave him comeliness and health, And Fortune (for a passport) gave him wealth.
Common sense among men of fortune is rare. [Lat., Rarus enim ferme sunsus communis in illa Fortuna.]
It is easy at any moment to resign the possession of a great fortune; to acquire it is difficult and arduous. [Lat., Facile est momento quo quis velit, cedere possessione magnae fortunae; facere et parare eam, difficile atque arduum est.]
The man is mechanically turned, and made for getting. . . . It was verily prettily said that we may learn the little value of fortune by the persons on whom Heaven is pleased to bestow it.
