Quotes about a chance

A collection of quotes on the topic of chance, doing, use, life.

Best quotes about a chance

“Choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”

Aristotle (-384–-321 BC) Classical Greek philosopher, student of Plato and founder of Western philosophy

“I will prepare and some day my chance will come.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Attributed in Laura Haddock (1931), Steps Upward in Personality
Misattributed
Variant: I will study and get ready, and perhaps my chance will come.

“No man was ever wise by chance.”

Seneca the Younger (-4–65 BC) Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, and dramatist

“One chance, bang!”

Cristiano Ronaldo (1985) Portuguese association football player

“A man deserves a second chance, but keep an eye on him.”

John Wayne (1907–1979) American film actor

“Never miss a good chance to shut up.”

Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer

The Manly Wisdom of Will Rogers (2001)

“Chance is necessity hidden behind a veil.”

Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830–1916) Austrian writer

Der Zufall ist die in Schleier gehüllte Notwendigkeit.
Source: Aphorisms (1880/1893), p. 20.

“Every challenge is a chance to succeed.”

Gandolfo – (RJ Intindola)

1977

“Never lose a chance of saying a kind word.”

William Makepeace Thackeray Vanity Fair

Source: Vanity Fair

“You must take your chance.”

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) English playwright and poet

Quotes about a chance

“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant. Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence, there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky, gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible. You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”

Bob Marley (1945–1981) Jamaican singer, songwriter, musician

Love, Life, People, Pleasure

“The chance to overcome another challenge is simply, as I always feel, a blessing.”

Yuzuru Hanyu (1994) Japanese figure skater (1994-)

Other quotes, 2014
Original: (ja) 次のもう一個の課題を克服するチャンスが来たっていうのは、それはもうただただ、いつも思うように、こんな恵まれたことはないですよ。
Source: Interview with Shuzo Matsuoka, aired 9 December 2014 in 報道ステーション (Hodo Station) on TV Asahi.

Feeling

“I thought, “I want to die. I want to die more than ever before. There’s no chance now of a recovery. No matter what sort of thing I do, no matter what I do, it’s sure to be a failure, just a final coating applied to my shame. That dream of going on bicycles to see a waterfall framed in summer leaves—it was not for the likes of me. All that can happen now is that one foul, humiliating sin will be piled on another, and my sufferings will become only the more acute. I want to die. I must die. Living itself is the source of sin.”

Osamu Dazai book No Longer Human

The Third Notebook:Part Two
No Longer Human

Dreams, Failure, Suffering, Summer

“Today is filled with anger, fueled with hidden hate.
Scared of being outkast, afraid of common fate.
Today is build on tragedies which no one want's to face.
Nightmares to humanity and morally disgraced.
Tonight is filled with Rage, violence in the air.
Children bred with ruthlessness cause no one at home cares.
Tonight I lay my head down but the pressure never stops,
knowing that my sanity content when I'm droped.
But tomorrow I see change, a chance to build a new,
build on spirit intent of heart and ideas based on truth.
Tomorrow I wake with second wind and strong because of pride.
I know I fought with all my heart to keep the dream alive.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

Hate, Fate, Children, Truth

“I don’t think that everyone should become a mathematician, but I do believe that many students don’t give mathematics a real chance.”

Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017) Iranian mathematician

Interview with Research Fellow Maryam Mirzakhani | january 2008

Mathematics, Thinking

“Chance of source language influencing the target language and that of the translator intervening onto the style of original writer are major challenges in literary translation.”

Suman Pokhrel (1967) Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist

Foreword, 'Tales of Transformation: English Translation of Tagore's Chitrangada and Chandalika', Lopamudra Banerjee, (2018). https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DQPD8F4/ From Prose

“No human being will ever know the truth, for even if they happened to say it by chance, they would not know they had done so.”

Xenophon (-430–-354 BC) ancient Greek historian and philosopher

Truth

“We must not forget that when radium was discovered no one knew that it would prove useful in hospitals. The work was one of pure science. And this is a proof that scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always the chance that a scientific discovery may become like the radium a benefit for humanity.”

Marie Curie (1867–1934) French-Polish physicist and chemist

Lecture at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York (14 May 1921)

Beauty, Science, Forgetting

“IN THE END… We only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.”

Lewis Carroll (1832–1898) English writer, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer

Decision, Waiting

“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”

Arthur Conan Doyle book The Hound of the Baskervilles

Source: The Hound of the Baskervilles

World

“You could spend your whole life imagining ghosts, worrying about the pathway to the future but all there will ever be is what's happening here and the decisions we make in this moments which are based in either love or fear. So many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. What we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect so we never dared the universe for it. I'm saying I'm the proof that you can ask the universe for it. My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn't believe that that was possible for him and so he made a conservative choice instead, he got a safe job as an accountant and when I was 12 years old he was let go from that safe job and our family had to do whatever we could do to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you could fail at what you don't want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.”

Jim Carrey (1962) Canadian-American actor, comedian, and producer

Love, Life, Fear, Family

“Each of us has a particular way of looking at the world, of interpreting events and the actions of people around us. This is our attitude, and it determines much of what happens to us in life. If our attitude is essentially fearful, we see the negative in every circumstance. We stop ourselves from taking chances. We blame others for mistakes and fail to learn from them. If we feel hostile or suspicious, we make others feel such emotions in our presence. We sabotage our career and relationships by unconsciously creating the circumstances we fear the most. The human attitude, however, is malleable. By making our attitude more positive, open, and tolerant of other people, we can spark a different dynamic—we can learn from adversity, create opportunities out of nothing, and draw people to us. We must explore the limits of our willpower and how far it can take us.”

Robert Greene (1959) American author

Chap. 8 : Change Your Circumstances by Changing Your Attitude
The Laws of Human Nature (2018)

Life, Hostility, People, World

“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something… My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Variant: My faith demands - this is not optional - my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.

Life, Faith

“People think of life as being so sacred and they feel like this is their only chance and they have to do something with their life and make an impact As far as I'm concerned, it's just a pitstop for the afterlife. It's just a little test to see how you can handle reality.”

Kurt Cobain (1967–1994) American musician and artist

Life, People, Feeling, Thinking

“When I was little, my ambition was to grow up to be a book. Not a writer. People can be killed like ants. Writers are not hard to kill either. But not books: however systematically you try to destroy them, there is always a chance that a copy will survive and continue to enjoy a shelf-life in some corner on an out-of-the-way library somehwere in Reykjavik, Valladolid or Vancouver.”

Amos Oz book A Tale of Love and Darkness

Source: A Tale of Love and Darkness

Life, People, Books, Way

“A soulmate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks. When we feel safe enough to open the locks, our truest selves step out and we can be completely and honestly who we are; we can be loved for who we are and not for who we’re pretending to be. Each unveils the best part of the other. No matter what else goes wrong around us, with that one person we’re safe in our own paradise. Our soulmate is someone who shares our deepest longings, our sense of direction. When we’re two balloons, and together our direction is up, chances are we’ve found the right person. Our soulmate is the one who makes life come to life.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Love, Life, Feeling, Sense

“I'm probably not going to get married unless I live with somebody for 10 or 20 years. But these people (Romeo and Juliet) took a chance and they did it. We don't have the balls that Romeo did.”

Leonardo DiCaprio (1974) American actor and film producer

http://www.flixster.com/actor/leonardo-di-caprio/leonardo-dicaprio-quotes

People

“I don’t think I have to prove anything to anyone. I don’t expect anyone to give me any breaks. I’m not one of those people who wants to scream, ‘Give me a chance. I will show you what I can do!’ You know, I really don’t care.”

Robert Pattinson (1986) English actor

People, Thinking

“Truly great people in history never wanted to be great for themselves. All they wanted was the chance to do good for others and be close to God.”

Muhammad Ali book The Soul of a Butterfly

Source: The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey

God, People, History

“It's true hard work never killed anyone, but I figure, why take the chance?”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)

On his relaxed approach to work, as quoted in Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio : a History Illustrated from the Collection of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum (2001) by Lou Cannon
Post-presidency (1989–2004)

Funny

“I had the chance to make every possible mistake and figure out a way to recover from it. Once you realize there is life after mistakes, you gain a self-confidence that never goes away.”

Bob Schieffer (1937) Journalist, Anchor for CBS News

Source: This Just in: What I Couldn't Tell You on TV

Life, Way, Confidence, Self-confidence

“We must overcome the notion that we must be regular… it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.”

Uta Hagen (1919–2004) German-born American actress and drama teacher

“I guess I'm pretty much of a lone wolf. I don't say I don't like people at all but, to tell you the truth I only like it then if I have a chance to look deep into their hearts and their minds.”

Béla Lugosi (1882–1956) Hungarian actor

People, Truth, Wolf, Heart

“"People die from typewriters falling on their heads." (talking about taking chances because you can die at any moment.)”

Jonathan Davis (1971) Heavy metal singer, frontman for Korn

People

“I wish to establish some sort of system not guided by chance but by some sort of definite and exact principle.”

Dmitri Mendeleev (1834–1907) Russian chemist and inventor

An Outline of the System of the Elements

“I am mindful of human weakness, and I reflect upon the might of Fortune and know that everything that we do is exposed to a thousand chances.”

Scipio Africanus (-235–-183 BC) Roman general in the Second Punic War

Context: I am mindful of human weakness, and I reflect upon the might of Fortune and know that everything that we do is exposed to a thousand chances. But, just as I should admit that I were acting with arrogance and violence if, before I had crossed over to Africa, I were to reject you when you were voluntarily withdrawing from Italy and, while your army was already on shipboard, you were coming in person to sue for peace, so now, when I have dragged you to Africa, resisting and shifting ground as we almost came to blows, I am under no obligation to respect you. Therefore, if to the terms upon which peace was formerly about to be made, as it seemed, you are adding some kind of compensation for the ships loaded with supplies that were taken by force during the armistice, and for violence done to my envoys, I have reason to bring it before the council. But if that addition also seems too severe, prepare for war, since you have been unable to endure a peace [bellum parate, quoniam pacem pati non potuistis]. Reply to Hannibal's attempt to set terms for peace, prior to the Battle of Zama, as quoted in Livy. Books XXVIII-XXX With An English Translation (1949), Book 30, Ch. 31 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0159%3Abook%3D30%3Achapter%3D31 Variant translation: I am aware of the frailty of man, I think about the power of fortune, and I know that all our actions are at the mercy of a thousand vicissitudes. Now I admit that it would have been arrogant and headstrong reaction on my part if you had come to sue for peace before I crossed to Africa, and I had rejected your petition when you were yourself voluntarily quitting Italy, and had your troops embarked on your ships. But, as it is, I have forced you back to Africa, and you are reluctant and resisting almost to the point of fighting, so that I feel no need to show you any consideration. Accordingly, if something is actually added to the terms on which it seems probable that a peace could be concluded — some sort of indemnity for the forceful appropriation of our ships, along with their cargoes, during truce and for the violation of our envoys — then I have something to take to my council. But if you consider even that to be excessive, prepare for war, for you have found peace intolerable. Hannibal's War : Books Twenty-one to Thirty by Livy, as translated by John Yardley (2006), p. 600 Prepare to fight — for, evidently, you have found peace intolerable. Let us make war, since evidently, you have found peace intolerable.

“All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better.
And having seen what I’ve seen — and given the chance — I feel it is my responsibility to say something.”

Emma Watson (1990) British actress and model

The "Burke quote" she uses here is a common but disputed attribution.
UN Speech on the HeForShe campaign (2014)
Context: You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing speaking at the UN. And it’s a really good question. I've been asking myself the same thing. All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better.
And having seen what I’ve seen — and given the chance — I feel it is my responsibility to say something. Statesman Edmund Burke said: “All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.”
In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt I’ve told myself firmly — if not me, who, if not now, when. If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you I hope that those words might be helpful.

Feeling, Problem

“It is just as much a matter of chance that I am still alive as that I might have been hit.”

Erich Maria Remarque book All Quiet on the Western Front

Source: All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), Ch. 6
Context: It is just as much a matter of chance that I am still alive as that I might have been hit. In a bomb-proof dugout I might have been smashed to atoms, and in the open survive ten hours' bombardment unscathed. No soldier survives a thousand chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck.

“The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.”

Sun Tzu (-543–-495 BC) ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher from the Zhou Dynasty

Source: The Art of War, Chapter VIII · Variations and Adaptability

War, Art

“I violate the Prohibition law, sure, Who doesn't? The only difference is that I take more chances than the man who drinks a cocktail before dinner and a flock of highballs after it.”

Al Capone (1899–1947) American gangster

Law, Drink

“Beware of missing chances; otherwise it may be altogether too late some day.”

Franz Liszt (1811–1886) Hungarian romantic composer and virtuoso pianist

“Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one.
But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.”

Terry Pratchett book Mort

Source: Mort

Time

“Thus every action must be due to one or other of seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reasoning, anger, or appetite.”

Aristotle Rhetoric

Book I, 1369a.5
Rhetoric
Variant: All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion and desire
Source: Selected Works

Nature, Anger

“(About sweeping)….
What he was in FACT doing was moving the dirt around with a broom, to give it a change of scenery and a chance to make new friends.”

Terry Pratchett book Maskerade

Source: Maskerade

Change

“Make your mistakes, take your chances, look silly, but keep on going. Don’t freeze up.”

Thomas Wolfe book You Can't Go Home Again

Source: You Can't Go Home Again

“Was there any human urge more pitiful-or more intense- than wanting another chance at something?”

Joe Hill (1879–1915) Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World

Source: NOS4A2

“The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance… logic can be happily tossed out the window.”

Stephen King book The Stand

Source: The Stand

God, World, Beauty

“Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering--remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you dont want to repeat what happened.”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

Forgiveness, Parting, Forgetting

“That's what I like about the World Series. It gives me a chance to talk with lots of writers, a chance for them to understand me better than in the past. When Roberto Clemente is mentioned, he is always mentioned with injuries. They say I'm moody, selfish, temperamental. That's not the real me. I was born with a serious face. If you know my life, if you know me well by taking the time to learn to know me, then you'll understand me. Most places I go, people say "smile." I don't like that. I don't believe in being a hypocrite. If the occasion is for smiling, I will be smiling. I'm a very happy person.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in "Clemente Says He is Very Happy" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=42oeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QckEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1983%2C4221206 by the Associated Press, in The Daytona Beach Morning Journal (October 16, 1971), p. 1-C Other, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>

Life, Happiness, People, World

“The Law teaches that the universe was invented and created by God, and that it did not come into being by chance or by itself.”

Averroes book On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy

Part 1: The Creation of the Universe; Opening sentence
On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy

God, Law, Universe

“I was working on a title called, “Untitled Solo,” and I had made—using the chance operations—a series of movements written on scraps of paper for the legs and the arms, the head, all different. And it was done not to the music but with the music of Christian Wolff.”

Merce Cunningham (1919–2009) American dancer

Merce Cunningham, A Lifetime of Dance, 2000

Music

“The world is full of wonderful things you haven’t seen yet. Don’t ever give up on the chance of seeing them.”

Joanne K. Rowling (1965) British novelist, author of the Harry Potter series

Online tweet, in response to an extremely depressed person contemplating https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/595148783056527360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.etonline.com%2Fnews%2F163965_jk_rowling_sends_beautiful_message_to_fan_who_wants_to_finally_give_up%2F suicide, as quoted in "J.K. Rowling Sends Beautiful Message to Fan Who Wants to 'Finally Give Up'" by Alex Ungerman ET Online (5 May 2015) http://www.etonline.com/news/163965_jk_rowling_sends_beautiful_message_to_fan_who_wants_to_finally_give_up/ 2010s

World

“The past is a curious thing. It's with you all the time. I suppose an hour never passes without your thinking of things that happened ten or twenty years ago, and yet most of the time it's got no reality, it's just a set of facts that you've learned, like a lot of stuff in a history book. Then some chance sight or sound or smell, especially smell, sets you going, and the past doesn't merely come back to you, you're actually in the past.”

George Orwell book Coming Up for Air

Coming Up for Air, Part I, Ch. 4 (1939)

Books, History, Thinking, Reality

“Can it be that chance has made me one of those women so immersed in one man that, whether they are barren or not, they carry with them to the grave the shrivelled innocence of an old maid?”

Colette (1873–1954) 1873-1954 French novelist: wrote Gigi

Sido (1929)

Women

“It is a rather unpleasant sensation to feel yourself pulled by the strings and made to do things whether you want to or not — that is quite irrelevant — but to be compelled to act because something pulls you by the strings, something which you do not even see — that is exasperating. … I knew nobody who could help me and I did not have the chance that you have, someone who can tell you: "This is what you have to do!" There was nobody to tell me that. I had to find it out all by myself. And I found it. I started at five.”

The Mother (1878–1973) spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo

On developing her inner experiences, as narrated in later years to her disciples at Sri Aurobindo Ashram, in "Birth and Girlhood", also in The Mother On Herself http://www.miraura.org/bio/herself.html

Feeling, Help

“There is no man, let him be aware of it or not, who is not a combatant in this hot contest; no one who does not take an active part in the responsibility of the defeat or victory. The prisoner in his chains and the king on his throne, the poor and the rich, the healthy and the infirm, the wise and the ignorant, the captive and the free, the old man and the child, the civilized and the savage, share equally in the combat. Every word that is pronounced, is either inspired by God or by the world, and necessarily proclaims, implicitly or explicitly, but always clearly, the glory of the one or the triumph of the other. In this singular warfare we all fight through forced enlistment; here the system of substitutes or volunteers finds no place. In it is unknown the exception of sex or age; here no attention is paid to him who says, I am the son of a poor widow; nor to the mother of the paralytic, nor to the wife of the cripple. In this warfare all men born of woman are soldiers.
And don’t tell me you don’t wish to fight; for the moment you tell me that, you are already fighting; nor that you don’t know which side to join, for while you are saying that, you have already joined a side; nor that you wish to remain neutral; for while you are thinking to be so, you are so no longer; nor that you want to be indifferent; for I will laugh at you, because on pronouncing that word you have chosen your party. Don’t tire yourself in seeking a place of security against the chances of war, for you tire yourself in vain; that war is extended as far as space, and prolonged through all time. In eternity alone, the country of the just, can you find rest, because there alone there is no combat. But do not imagine, however, that the gates of eternity shall be opened for you, unless you first show the wounds you bear; those gates are only opened for those who gloriously fought here the battles of the Lord, and were, like the Lord, crucified.”

Juan Donoso Cortés (1809–1853) Spanish author, political theorist and diplomat

Essays on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism (1879)

Men, God, War, Age

“I think marriage is all about timing. Getting married is insanity; I mean, it's a risk – who knows if you're going to be together forever? But you both say, 'We're going to take this chance, in the same spirit.”

Cate Blanchett (1969) Australian actress

Cate Blanchett: 'Getting Married Is Insanity', People Magazine, 12 January 2007 http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20008317,00.html,

Marriage, Thinking, Time

“It was pure chance that led me to judo. Judo has helped me to understand that pictorial space is above al the product of spiritual exercises. Judo is in fact the discovery by the human body of a spiritual space.”

Yves Klein (1928–1962) French artist

In 1953; p. 21
before 1960, "Yves Klein, 1928 – 1962, Selected Writings"

Exercises, Understanding, Help

“I smoke marijuana every chance I get.”

Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) American poet

America (1956)

Marijuana

“Barcelona gave me everything, they took a chance on me when nobody else would. I never have any desire to play for anybody else, I will be here for as long as they want me.”

Lionel Messi (1987) Argentine association football player

Interview with ShortList, 2015 http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/sport/lionel-messi-talks-champions-league-copa-america

“I've also gotten weird letters, suicide letters, girls threatening to jump if I don't get in touch with them. So you think, "This is bullshit," but then you think, "What if it's not? Who wants to take that chance?" I write them back, tell them to hang in there, if things are that bad, they have to get better. But I'm not altogether stable myself, so who am I to give advice?”

Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician

Quoted in Johanna Schneller, "Johnny Depp: Girls' Best Friend," http://www.deppimpact.com/mags/transcripts/rollingstone_dec88.html Rolling Stone (December 1988)

Girl, Thinking, Suicide

“On translating text into the new language as it is in source language, there is a chance of it being emerged as an absurd sentence in the target language making no sense at all. In the attempt to make the translation meaningful to the target language, there exists a risk of the original work getting meddled by the translator’s style.”

Suman Pokhrel (1967) Nepali poet, lyricist, playwright, translator and artist

Sense

“The Daily Worker disapproves of dictatorship in Athens, the Catholic Herald disapproves of dictatorship in Belgrade. There is no one who is able to say—at least, no one who has the chance to say in a newspaper of big circulation—that this whole dirty game of spheres of inﬂuence, quislings, purges, deportation, one-party elections and hundred per cent plebiscites is morally the same whether it is done by ourselves, the Russians or the Nazis. Even in the case of such frank returns to barbarism as the use of hostages, disapproval is only felt when it happens to be the enemy and not ourselves who is doing it.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

"As I Please," Tribune (26 January 1945) http://alexpeak.com/twr/orwell/quotes/ "As I Please" (1943–1947)

Game

“Let every man abide in the art or employment wherein he was called. And for their labor they may receive all necessary things, except money. … Let none of the brothers, wherever he may be or whithersoever he may go, carry or receive money or coin in any manner, or cause it to be received, either for clothing, or for books, or as the price of any labor, or indeed for any reason, except on account of the manifest necessity of the sick brothers. For we ought not to have more use and esteem of money and coin than of stones. And the devil seeks to blind those who desire or value it more than stones. Let us therefore take care lest after having left all things we lose the kingdom of heaven for such a trifle. And if we should chance to find money in any place, let us no more regard it than the dust we tread under our feet.”

Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) Catholic saint and founder of the Franciscan Order

First Rule of the Friars Minor

Money, Books, Art, Clothes

“He, therefore, who desires peace, should prepare for war. He who aspires to victory, should spare no pains to form his soldiers. And he who hopes for success, should fight on principle, not chance. (Book 3, Foreword)”
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum; qui uictoriam cupit, milites inbuat diligenter; qui secundos optat euentus, dimicet arte, non casu.

Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus book De re militari

De Re Militari (also Epitoma Rei Militaris), Book III, "Dispositions for Action"
Variant: Si vis pacem para bellum. ("If you want peace, prepare for war.")

Pain, War, Books, Peace

“On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings — oh, happy chance! —
I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.
In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguised — oh, happy chance! —
In darkness and in concealment, My house being now at rest.”

John of the Cross (1542–1591) Spanish mystic and Roman Catholic saint

En una noche oscura,
con ansias, en amores inflamada,
¡oh dichosa ventura!,
salí sin ser notada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada;
One dark night, fired with love's urgent longings — ah, the sheer grace! —
I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled.
In darkness, and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised, — ah, the sheer grace! — in darkness and concealment, my house being now all stilled.
Variant translation by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (1991)
Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest.
Shrouded by the night and by the secret stair I quickly fled.
The veil concealed my eyes while all within lay quiet as the dead
Variant adapted for music by Loreena McKennitt (1994)
Dark Night of the Soul

Love, Happiness, Secret, Housing

“Though I have always made it my practice to be pleasant to everybody, I have not once actually experienced friendship. I have only the most painful recollections of my various acquaintances with the exception of such companions in pleasure as Horiki. I have frantically played the clown in order to disentangle myself from these painful relationships, only to wear myself out as a result. Even now it comes as a shock if by chance I notice in the street a face resembling someone I know however slightly, and I am at once seized by a shivering violent enough to make me dizzy. I know that I am liked by other people, but I seem to be deficient in the faculty to love others. (I should add that I have very strong doubts as to whether even human beings really possess this faculty.) It was hardly to be expected that someone like myself could ever develop any close friends—besides, I lacked even the ability to pay visits. The front door of another person’s house terrified me more than the gate of Inferno in the Divine Comedy, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I really felt I could detect within the door the presence of a horrible dragon-like monster writhing there with a dank, raw smell.”

Osamu Dazai book No Longer Human

The Third Notebook: Part One
No Longer Human

Love, Pain, Friendship, People

“The revolutionary atmosphere remained as I had first known it. General and private, peasant and militiaman, still met as equals; everyone drew the same pay, wore the same clothes, ate the same food, and called everyone else 'thou' and 'comrade'; there was no boss-class, no menial-class, no beggars, no prostitutes, no lawyers, no priests, no boot-licking, no cap-touching. I was breathing the air of equality, and I was simple enough to imagine that it existed all over Spain. I did not realize that more or less by chance I was isolated among the most revolutionary section of the Spanish working class.”

George Orwell book Homage to Catalonia

Source: Homage to Catalonia (1938)

Food, Imagination, Clothes

“No one says in the morning: A day is soon past, let us wait for the night. On the contrary, in the evening we consider what we shall do the next day. We should be very sorry to spend even one day at the mercy of time and bores. … Who can be certain of spending an hour without being bored, if he takes no care to fill even that short period according to his pleasure. Yet what we cannot be certain of for an hour, we sometimes feel assured of for life, and say: “If death is the end of everything, why give ourselves so much trouble? We are extremely foolish to make such a pother about the future”—that is to say, we are extremely foolish not to entrust our destinies to chance, and to provide for the interval which lies between us and death.”

Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues (1715–1747) French writer, a moralist

Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 173.

Life, Death, Pleasure, Feeling

“I'm for the poor man — all poor men, black and white, they all gotta have a chance. They gotta have a home, a job, and a decent education for their children. 'Every man a king”

Huey Long (1893–1935) American politician, Governor of Louisiana, and United States Senator

that's my slogan.
Huey Long (T. Harry Williams, Huey Long, p. 706)

Men, Children, Education, Home

“I must and will work to ensure that the new democratic South Africa has a fair chance to succeed economically as well as politically, and to try to assist in fulfilling at least a part of the dream of the oppressed and deprived when the new South Africa is born.”

Harry Schwarz (1924–2010) South African activist

Speech to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C, April 1991.
As ambassador to the United States
Source: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-05-16/news/1991136167_1_south-africa-schwarz-frances-academy

Dreams, Parting

“Animals have sections in their stomachs which enable them to digest food without mastication, but human beings are supposed to chew their food before they swallow it down… So chew your food and give your salivary glands a chance to function!”

Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie

Amanda, Scene One
The Glass Menagerie (1944)

Food, Animals

“I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake.”

Leopold II of Belgium (1835–1909) King of the Belgians

Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent From 1876 to 1912, New York: Avon Books, 1992, 22.

“The theory of chance consists in reducing all the events of the same kind to a certain number of cases equally possible”

Pierre-Simon Laplace book Philosophical Essay on Probabilities

Philosophical Essay on Probabilities (1902)
Context: The theory of chance consists in reducing all the events of the same kind to a certain number of cases equally possible, that is to say, to such as we may be equally undecided about in regard to their existence, and in determining the number of cases favorable to the event whose probability is sought.<!--p.6

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

Richard Bach book Nothing by Chance

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.

“Each and every one of us has a fire that burns inside us. They can try like hell to put it out, but as long as we know in our minds who we are meant to be, they will never stand a chance.”

Andrew Biersack (1990) American singer-songwriter

Hell

“Jay Z: We are good friends, but what I got to say has nothing to do with our friendship. I have been in the industry long enough to know when I’m in the presence of a genius… and Chris Martin is just that. In years to come, Britain will look back at him as a modern day Shakespeare, he is an incredible recording artist, an incredible songwriter, but where he really comes alive is performing live. If you get the chance to see Coldplay live, do it, you ain’t gonna regret it.”

Chris Martin (1977) musician, co-founder of Coldplay

http://www.metroguiltypleasures.com/metro/coldplays-chris-martin-is-a-modern-day-shakespeare-says-jay-z/ source

Friendship

“There are no buildings that have been built by chance, remote from the human society where they have grown and its needs, hopes and understandings, even as there are no arbitrary lines and motiveless forms in the work of the masons. The life and existence of every great, beautiful and useful building, as well as its relation to the place where it has been built, often bears within itself complex and mysterious drama and history.”

Ivo Andrič book The Bridge on the Drina

Source: The Bridge on the Drina (1945), Ch. 2

Life, Beauty, Hope, History

“I score so many goals, this means a lot. I know I will always be a little bit behind and I have to maybe work harder than those players for my country if we want to achieve something. It’s not an easy job for me, but I’m not afraid. I’m not afraid. It’s a big chance.”

Robert Lewandowski (1988) Polish association football player

Country

“The surest way to work up a crusade in favor of some good cause is to promise people they will have a chance of maltreating someone. To be able to destroy with good conscience, to be able to behave badly and call your bad behavior 'righteous indignation' — this is the height of psychological luxury, the most delicious of moral treats.”

Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) English writer

People, Way, Behavior

“You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime, yo!”

Eminem (1972) American rapper and actor

"Lose Yourself" (from 8 Mile, 2002)
2000s

Music

“If you are not truthful and if you are not in reality about yourself and if you are not in reality about the truth of other people, you have no chance at being happy in any of your relationships.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

Happiness, People, Truth, Reality

“All of us are having conversations with God all the time. We’re simply calling them something else. We’re calling them moments of “inspiration.” Or “women’s intuition.” Or a “psychic hit.” Or a “bright idea.” Or a “deep insight.” Or an “epiphany.” We call the results of such encounters “serendipity” or “coincidence” or “chance.””

Neale Donald Walsch (1943) American writer

Women, God, Idea, Time

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.”

Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American motivational speaker

Life, Change

“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.”

William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925) United States Secretary of State

"America's Mission", speech delivered by the leader of the Democratic Party at the Washington Day banquet given by the Virginia Democratic Association at Washington, D.C., (22 February 1899), as published in The Book of Public Speaking (Vol. 2) http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/The_Book_of_Public_Speaking_v2_1000538531/149

Waiting

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

Steve Jobs (1955–2011) American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc.

A comment he made in persuading John Sculley to become Apple's CEO, as quoted in Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple: A Journey of Adventure, Ideas, and the Future (1987) by John Sculley and John A. Byrne
1980s

Life, World, Water, Change

“The trouble with life was that you didn’t get a chance to practice before doing it for real.”

Terry Pratchett book Pyramids

Source: Pyramids

Life

“It was my first big chance, but here I was, sitting back and letting it run through my fingers like so much water.”

Sylvia Plath book The Bell Jar

Source: The Bell Jar

Water

“Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Life, Beauty, Beauty, Good Morning

“All Nature is but art, unknown to thee
All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord, harmony not understood;
All partial evil, universal good.”

Alexander Pope An Essay on Man

Source: An Essay on Man

Art, Nature, Universe, Evil

“You got to be ready to die every day - then you got a chance.”

Daniel Woodrell (1953) Novelist

Source: Winter's Bone

“The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926) Religious leader and peace activist

Source: Buddha Mind, Buddha Body: Walking Toward Enlightenment

Truth, Secret, Idea

“A story about family, first loves, second chances, and the moments in life that leads you back home”

Nicholas Sparks book The Last Song

Source: The Last Song

Love, Life, Family, Home

“Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us.”

Paul Theroux (1941) American travel writer and novelist

New York Times (July 28, 1976).

Life

“There is no royal road to science, and only those who do not dread the fatiguing climb of its steep paths have a chance of gaining its luminous summits.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

Source: Capital, Vol 1: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production

Science

“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”

Henry David Thoreau A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Source: A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Books, Reading

“No man needs sympathy because he has to work, because he has a burden to carry. Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Life, Back To Work

“In the end, I've found that it doesn't really matter who you marry. If you like them at the beginning, you probably won't like them at the end. And if you start off hating them, there's always the chance you'll end up thinking they're all right.”

Alain de Botton (1969) Swiss writer

Source: Essays in Love

Hate, Thinking

“Seems to me it ain't the world that's so bad but what we're doing to it, and all I'm saying is: see what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love, baby - love. That's the secret.”

Louis Armstrong (1901–1971) American jazz trumpeter, composer and singer

Spoken intro to "What a Wonderful World" (1970 version)
Context: Seems to me, it aint the world that's so bad but what we're doin' to it. And all I'm saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be a gasser. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.
Context: Some of you young folks been saying to me, "Hey Pops, what you mean 'What a wonderful world'? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? That aint so wonderful either." Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute. Seems to me, it aint the world that's so bad but what we're doin' to it. And all I'm saying is, see, what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And then this world would be a gasser. That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying.

Love, Secret, World, Baby

“It's a big deal when you finally get the chance to do the one thing you want to do -need to do- more than anything. It can kind of scare the crap out of you.”

Sarah Dessen book Just Listen

Source: Just Listen

“Stefan spat. "Oh, aye, he fell. O' course, Master Ralon helped him fall, several times. Poor li'l tyke didn't have a chance.”

Tamora Pierce book Alanna: The First Adventure

Source: Alanna: The First Adventure

Time, Help

“Million-to-one chances… crop up nine times out of ten.”

Terry Pratchett book Equal Rites

Source: Equal Rites

Time

“In any case, it's the cowardice of people like you who give dictators the chance to install themselves!”

Marjane Satrapi (1969) Artist

Source: Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

People

“Necessity is the mother of taking chances.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

“Last night there seemed to be a chance. Anything was possible last night. That was the trouble with last nights. They were always followed by this mornings.”

Terry Pratchett book Small Gods

Source: Small Gods

Night

“No soldier outlives a thousand chances. But every soldier believes in Chance and trusts his luck.”

Erich Maria Remarque (1898–1970) German novelist

“People destined to meet will do so, apparently by chance, at precisely the right moment.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

People

“I have one life and one chance to make it count for something… I'm free to choose what that something is, and the something I've chosen is my faith. Now, my faith goes beyond theology and religion and requires considerable work and effort. My faith demands -- this is not optional -- my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Life, Faith, Religion, Effort

“Life offers you a thousand chances… all you have to do is take one.”

Frances Mayes book Under the Tuscan Sun

Source: Under the Tuscan Sun

Life

“When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact’ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen’d grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love!”

John Keats (1795–1821) English Romantic poet

then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.
"When I have fears that I may cease to be" (1817)
Source: The Complete Poems

Love, Books, World, Fear