Quotes
Quotes about Luck
The Ant and the Dove AN ANT went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and being carried away by the rush of the stream, was on the point of drowning. A Dove sitting on a tree overhanging the water plucked a leaf and let it fall into the stream close to her. The Ant climbed onto it and floated in safety to the bank. Shortly afterwards a birdcatcher came and stood under the tree, and laid his lime-twigs for the Dove, which sat in the branches. The Ant, perceiving his design, stung him in the foot. In pain the birdcatcher threw down the twigs, and the noise made the Dove take wing. One good turn deserves another.
The Vain Jackdaw Jupiter determined, it is said, to create a sovereign over the birds, and made proclamation that on a certain day they should all present themselves before him, when he would himself choose the most beautiful among them to be king. The Jackdaw, knowing his own ugliness, searched through the woods and fields, and collected the feathers which had fallen from the wings of his companions, and stuck them in all parts of his body, hoping thereby to make himself the most beautiful of all. When the appointed day arrived, and the birds had assembled before Jupiter, the Jackdaw also made his appearance in his many feathered finery. But when Jupiter proposed to make him king because of the beauty of his plumage, the birds indignantly protested, and each plucked from him his own feathers, leaving the Jackdaw nothing but a Jackdaw.
The Mouse, the Frog, and the Hawk A mouse who always lived on the land, by an unlucky chance formed an intimate acquaintance with a Frog, who lived for the most part in the water. The Frog, one day intent on mischief, bound the foot of the Mouse tightly to his own. Thus joined together, the Frog first of all led his friend the Mouse to the meadow where they were accustomed to find their food. After this, he gradually led him towards the pool in which he lived, until reaching the very brink, he suddenly jumped in, dragging the Mouse with him. The Frog enjoyed the water amazingly, and swam croaking about, as if he had done a good deed. The unhappy Mouse was soon suffocated by the water, and his dead body floated about on the surface, tied to the foot of the Frog. A Hawk observed it, and, pouncing upon it with his talons, carried it aloft. The Frog, being still fastened to the leg of the Mouse, was also carried off a prisoner, and was eaten by the Hawk. Harm hatch, harm catch.
E'en in mid-harvest, while the jocund swain Pluck'd from the brittle stalk the golden grain, Oft have I seen the war of winds contend, And prone on earth th' infuriate storm descend, Waste far and wide, and by the roots uptorn, The heavy harvest sweep through ether borne, As light straw and rapid stubble fly In dark'ning whirlwinds round the wintry sky.
Love is the flower of life, and blossoms unexpectedly and without law, and must be plucked where it is found, and enjoyed for the brief hour of its duration.
Like the sweet apple which reddens upon the topmost bough, A-top on the topmost twig--which the pluckers forgot, somehow-- Forgot it not, nay, but got it not, for none could get it till now.
The apples that grew on the fruit-tree of knowledge By woman were pluck'd, and she still wears the prize To tempt us in theatre, senate, or college-- I mean the love-apples that bloom in the eyes. - Horace Smith and James Smith,
From you have I been absent in the spring, When proud-pied April, dressed in all his trim, Hath put a spirit of youth in everything, That heavy Saturn laughed and leapt with him; Yet nor the lays of birds, not the sweet smell Of different flowers in odor and in hue, Could make me any summer's story tell, Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew: Nor did I wonder at the lily's white, Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose; They were but sweet, but figures of delight, Drawn after you, you pattern of all those. Yet seemed it winter still, and you away, As with your shadow I with these did play.
Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; And only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
The hair she means to have is gold, Her eyes are blue, she's twelve weeks old, Plump are her fists and pinky. She fluttered down in lucky hour From some blue deep in yon sky bower-- I call her "Little Dinky."
There's a brave fellow! There's a man of pluck! A man who's not afraid to say his say, Though a whole town's against him.
Against her ankles as she trod The lucky buttercups did nod.
Pluck up thy spirits, look cheerfully upon me. Here, love, thou seest how diligent I am To dress thy meat myself and bring it thee.
We've had bad luck with our kids--they've all grown up.
A young man's ambition is to get along in the world and make a place for himself-half your life goes that way, till you're 45 or 50. Then, if you're lucky, you make terms with life, you get released. -Robert Penn Warren.
Thus we see that the all important thing is not killing or giving life, drinking or not drinking, living in the town or the country, being unlucky or lucky, winning or losing. It is how we win, how we lose, how we live or die, finally, how we choose.
[Magic] is not mere superstition. It can corrupt people who otherwise carry on their daily duties with apparent reasonableness and common sense... It exploits man's urgent desire for all the material good things of lifeâhealth, prosperity, success, "good luck"âand at times, it may even descend to aggressive acts against one's competitors and supposed enemies and rivals. It rests upon an assumption, not always explicit, that divine power can be manipulated and used for human ends. And it is the more dangerous among people who assume that since God is love, He will do whatever they ask, provided they use the right formula in asking. Magic mocks God's freedom no less than His purpose. For it binds men more and more in a prison of fear and selfishness. Far from liberating divine power, it shuts out the free and creative forces of love and self-sacrifice that alone ennoble life and remove the alienation of men one from another. Love, not compulsion, casts out fear.
Shallow men believe in luck, believe in circumstancesâ it was somebody's name, or he happened to be there at the time, or it was so then, and another day would have been otherwise. Strong men believe in cause and effect.
Thus when a barber and collier fight, The barber beats the luckless collier--white; The dusty collier heaves his ponderous sack, And, big with vengeance, beats the barber--black. In comes the brick-dust man, with grime o'er spread, And beats the collier and the barber--red; Black, red, and white, in various clouds are toss'd, And in the dust they raise the combatants are lost.
Coquetry whets the appetite; flirtation depraves it. Coquetry is the thorn that guards the rose--easily trimmed off when once plucked. Flirtation is like the slime on water-plants, making them hard to handle, and when caught, only to be cherished in slimy waters. - Ik Marvel (pseudonym of Donald G. Mitchell),
A man must serve his time to every trade Save censure--critics all are ready made. Take hackney'd jokes from Miller, got by rote, With just enough of learning to misquote; A mind well skill'd to find or forge a fault; A turn for punning, call it Attic salt; To Jeffrey go, be silent and discreet, His pay is just ten sterling pounds per sheet; Fear not to lie, 'twill seem a lucky hit; Shrink not from blasphemy, 'twill pass for wit; Care not for feeling--pass your proper jest, And stand a critic, hated yet caress'd.
Death is one of the few things that can be done as easily lying down. The difference between sex and death is that with death you can do it alone and no one is going to make fun of you. â¢Woody Allen At the end of the game the king and the pawn go back in the same box. â¢Italian Proverb Life is a great surprise. I don't see why death should not be an even greater one. â¢Vladimir Nabokov Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck. â¢George Sanders, his suicide note There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval. â¢Santayana Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh. â¢George Bernard Shaw Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. â¢Dylan Thomas To live is to dream and to die is to awaken. â¢Anonymous We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the moment of waking from a troubled dream; it may be so at the moment after death. â¢Nathaniel Hawthorne All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. â¢Anatole France We are bound to our bodies like an oyster is to its shell. â¢Plato Dying is like getting out of a car. You leave a shell behind, but you're the same person as ever. â¢President Klein The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy . What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly. â¢Richard Bach If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life. â¢Albert Camus We do not know what to do with this short life, yet we yearn for another that will be eternal. â¢Anatole France I'm the one who has to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life, the way I want to. â¢Jimi Hendrix The real malady is fear of life, not of death.
Think'st thou there are no serpents in the world But those who slide along the grassy sod, And sting the luckless foot that presses them? There are who in the path of social life Do bask their spotted skins in Fortune's sun, And sting the soul.
Children need encouragement. If a kid gets an answer right, tell him it was a lucky guess. That way he develops a good, lucky feeling.
Fate is what happens to you when your luck runs out.
