“In my years, I have seen that people must be their own gods and make their own good fortune. The bad will come or not come anyway.”

"The Sphynx of the Tuileries", Pike County Ballads and Other Pieces (1873).

Source: Culture series, Use of Weapons (1990), Chapter V (p. 303).

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Falling Free (1988), Chapter 11 (p. 194)

Source: Uncommon Criminals

The Motto; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Context: Years later, when "Dilbert" was in thousands of newspapers, people often asked me if I ever imagined being so lucky. I usually said no, because that's the answer people expected. The truth is that I imagined every bit of good fortune that has come my way. But in my imagination I also invented a belt that would allow me to fly and had special permission from Congress to urinate like a bird wherever I wanted. I wake up every morning disappointed that I have to wear pants and walk. Imagination has a way of breeding disappointment.

Interview with The Guardian (February 1970)

Herbert N. Casson cited in: Forbes magazine (1950) The Forbes scrapbook of Thoughts on the business of life. p. 218
1950s and later

Prose IV, line 30; translation by W.V. Cooper
The Consolation of Philosophy · De Consolatione Philosophiae, Book I