Quotes
Quotes about Fortune
If a man look sharply and attentively, he shall see Fortune; for though she is blind, she is not invisible.
I am not now in fortune's power:
He that is down can fall no lower.
But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand,
And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.
As if Misfortune made the throne her seat,
And none could be unhappy but the great.
Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes,
Tenets with books, and principles with times.
I never knew any man in my life who could not bear another's misfortunes perfectly like a Christian.
'T is fortune gives us birth,
But Jove alone endues the soul with worth.
The bitter dregs of fortune's cup to drain.
I care not, Fortune, what you me deny:
You cannot rob me of free Nature's grace,
You cannot shut the windows of the sky
Through which Aurora shows her brightening face;
You cannot bar my constant feet to trace
The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve:
Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace,
And I their toys to the great children leave:
Of fancy, reason, virtue, naught can me bereave.
Forever, Fortune, wilt thou prove
An unrelenting foe to love;
And when we meet a mutual heart,
Come in between and bid us part?
Here rests his head upon the lap of earth,
A youth to fortune and to fame unknown:
Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.
Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune;
He had not the method of making a fortune.
I am convinced that we have a degree of delight, and that no small one, in the real misfortunes and pains of others.
No radiant pearl which crested Fortune wears,
No gem that twinkling hangs from Beauty's ears,
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.
The reign of Antoninus is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history, which is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.
Vicissitudes of fortune, which spares neither man nor the proudest of his works, which buries empires and cities in a common grave.
We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.
Dame Fortune is a fickle gipsy,
And always blind, and often tipsy;
Sometimes for years and years together,
She 'll bless you with the sunniest weather,
Bestowing honour, pudding, pence,
You can't imagine why or whence;--
Then in a moment--Presto, pass!--
Your joys are withered like the grass;
Italy, my Italy!
Queen Mary's saying serves for me
(When fortune's malice
Lost her Calais):
"Open my heart, and you will see
Graved inside of it ‘Italy.'"
Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.
My Lord Tomnoddy is thirty-four;
The Earl can last but a few years more.
My Lord in the Peers will take his place:
Her Majesty's councils his words will grace.
Office he'll hold and patronage sway;
Fortunes and lives he will vote away;
And what are his qualifications?--ONE!
He's the Earl of Fitzdotterel's eldest son.
A bad neighbour is as great a misfortune as a good one is a great blessing.
Fortune is not on the side of the faint-hearted.
There is in the worst of fortune the best of chances for a happy change.
Ignorance of one's misfortunes is clear gain.
