Fortune Quotes - Page 29

• If poverty makes man groan, he yawns in opulence. When fortune exempts us from labor, nature overwhelms us with time.

  Antoine Rivarol

  Men, Opulence, Poverty

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• It's funny, but... you're sort of a moving target for fortune, and you never know when it will befall you.

  Thomas McGuane

  Moving, Target, Knows

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• One man restored our fortunes by delay. [By skilfully avoiding an engagement, Fabius exhausted the resources of the enemy.]

  Quintus Ennius

  Men, Enemy, Delay

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• The muses crown virtue when fortune refuses to do it.

  Elizabeth Montagu

  Crowns, Muse, Virtue

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• Spring cold is like the poverty of a poor man who has had a fortune left him - better days are coming.

  Margaret Oliphant

  Spring, Men, Poverty

  Margaret Oliphant (1873). “Innocent: A Tale of Modern Life : in 2 Volumes”, p.34

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• Prosperity can change man's nature; and seldom is any one cautious enough to resist the effects of good fortune.
  [Lat., Res secundae valent commutare naturam, et raro quisquam erga bona sua satis cautus est.]

  Quintus Curtius Rufus

  Men, Prosperity, Enough

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• They make their fortune who are stout and wise,
  Wit rules the heavens, discretion guides the skies.
  [Lat., Che sovente addivien che'l saggio e'l forte.
  Fabro a se stesso e di beata sorte.]

  Torquato Tasso

  Wise, Sky, Heaven

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• Noble bold is an accident of fortune; noble actions characterize the great.
  [It., Il sangue nobile e un accidente della fortuna; le azioni nobili caratterizzano il grande.]

  Carlo Goldoni

  Noble, Bold Actions, Fortuna

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• Every effort is made in forming matrimonial alliances to reconcile matters relating to fortune, but very little is paid to the congeniality of dispositions, or to the accordance of hearts.

  Jean Baptiste Massillon

  Marriage, Heart, Effort

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• Giving away a fortune is taking Christianity too far.

  Charlotte Bingham

  Giving, Christianity

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• If we haven't a grouch against Fortune, we seem unable to avoid one against ourselves.

  Winifred Holtby

  Grouches, Havens, Seems

  Winifred Holtby, Alice Holtby (1941). “Letters to a friend”

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• There can be something cruel about people who have had good fortune. They equate it with personal goodness.

  Ann Patchett

  People, Goodness, Self-satisfaction

  Ann Patchett (2013). “This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage”, p.67, A&C Black

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• I've had the good fortune to read a lot of great American writers in translation, and my absolute beloved, for me one of the greatest writers ever, is Mark Twain. Yes, yes, yes. And Whitman, from whom the whole of 20th-century poetry sprung up. Whitman was the origin of things, someone with a completely different outlook. But I think that he's the father of the new wave in the world's poetry which to this very day is hitting the shore.

  Wislawa Szymborska

  Father, Thinking, Sprung Up

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• I have often noticed that when Fate has a phenomenal run of ill luck in store for you, she begins by dropping a rare piece of good fortune into your lap, thereby enhancing the artistic effect of the sequel.

  Ethel Smyth

  Running, Fate, Luck

  Ethel Smyth (1946). “Impressions that remained”

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• It has always been more difficult for a man to keep than to get; for, in the one case, fortune aids, which often assists injustice; but, in the other case, sense is required. Therefore, we often see a person deficient in cleverness rise to wealth; and then, from want of sense, roll head over heels to the bottom.

  Giambattista Basile

  Men, Want, Injustice

  Giambattista Basile, John Edward Taylor, George Cruikshank (1850). “The Pentamerone, Or the Story of Stories Fun for the Little Ones Translated from the Neapolitan by John Edward Taylor”, p.338

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• A just fortune awaits the deserving.
  [Lat., Fors aequa merentes
  Respicit.]

  Statius

  Deserving

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• When you draw from the endless awareness of nirvana, you are no longer a slave to fortune. When pleasant experiences come your way, you can enjoy them. But if pain and misfortune befall you, you can rise above them and remain unaffected.

  Frederick Lenz

  Pain, Buddhism, Suffering

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• I hardly know a sight that raises one's indignation more than that of an enlarged soul joined to a contracted fortune; unless it be that so much more common one, of a contracted soul joined to an enlarged fortune.

  Sir Fulke Greville

  Sight, Soul, Common

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• It's dangerous to start attributing your fortunes to luck and your misfortunes to fate.

  Nancy Pickard

  Fate, Destiny, Luck

  Nancy Pickard (1989). “Marriage Is Murder”, Pocket

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• Envy is a weed that grows in all soils and climates, and is no less luxuriant in the country than in the court; is not confined to any rank of men or extent of fortune, but rages in the breasts of all degrees.

  Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon

  Country, Weed, Men

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• If they gave me a fortune,
  My treasure would be small:
  I could lose it all tomorrow
  And never mind at all.
  But if I should lose your love, dear,
  I don't know what I'd do,
  For I know I'll never find another you.

  Tom Springfield

  Mind, Would Be, Treasure

  "Song: 'I'll Never Find Another You'". 1965.

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• Never grieve for me if it is my good fortune to die with my boots on. That's what I most hope for.

  Maynard Owen Williams

  Grieving, Boots, Dies

  Letter to Gilbert Grosvenor, 1948.

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• everything associated with weddings cost the same - a fortune.

  Lisa Scottoline

  Cost

  Lisa Scottoline (2013). “Accused: A Rosato & DiNunzio Novel”, p.276, Macmillan

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• Ignorant people always suppose that popular writers are wonderfully well-paid - and must be making rapid fortunes - because they neither starve in garrets, nor wear rags - at least in America.

  Eliza Leslie

  America, People, Ignorant

  Eliza Leslie (1839). “Miss Leslie's Behaviour Book: A Guide and Manual for Ladies as Regards Their Conversation; Manners; Dress; with Full Instructions and Advice in Letter Writing [!]; Receiving Presents; Incorrect Words”, p.259

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• There is scarcely an instance of a man who has made a fortune by speculation and kept it

  Andrew Carnegie

  Men, Investing, Made

  Andrew Carnegie (1992). “The Andrew Carnegie reader”, Univ of Pittsburgh Pr

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