“Luck is not chance, it's toil; fortune's expensive smile is earned.”

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Emily Dickinson187

American poet 1830–1886

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“Learn fortitude and toil from me, my son,
Ache of true toil. Good fortune learn from others.”
Disce, puer, virtutem ex me verumque laborem, Fortunam ex aliis.

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Source: Aeneid (29–19 BC), Book XII, Lines 435–436 (tr. Robert Fitzgerald)

“Chance in uncertain, fortune double-faced,
Smiling at first, she frowneth in the end:
Beware thine honor be not then disgraced,
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Giunta è tua gloria al sommo e per lo innanzi
Fuggir le dubbie guerre a te conviene,
Ch' ove tu vinca sol di stato avvanzi
Nè tua gloria maggior quindi diviene;
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El' onor perdi, se 'l contrario avviene.
Canto II, stanza 67 (tr. Fairfax)
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“No soldier outlives a thousand chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck.”

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“With any luck. Stark smiled cynically. Not that he did not believe in luck. Rather, he had found it to be an uncertain ally.”

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Source: The Ginger Star (1974), Chapter 3 (p. 18)

“Nothing happens by chance, my friend… No such thing as luck.”

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Nothing by Chance: A Gypsy Pilot's Adventures in Modern America (1969)
Context: Nothing happens by chance, my friend... No such thing as luck. A meaning behind every little thing, and such a meaning behind this. Part for you, part for me, we may not see it all real clear right now, but we will, before long.