“Fortune is unstable, while our will is free.”
Diogenes Laërtius (180–240) biographer of ancient Greek philosophers
Epicurus, 27.
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (c. 200 A.D.), Book 10: Epicurus
“Nowhere do men remain loyal for long when Fortune proves unstable.”
Book XI, lines 3–4
Punica
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Silius Italicus31
Roman consul, orator, and Latin epic poet 26–101Related quotes
“Prosperity proves men to be fortunate, while it is adversity which makes them great.”
Secunda felices, adversa magnos probent.
Pliny the Younger (61–113) Roman writer
XXXI.
Panegyricus
“The fashions of human affairs are brief and changeable, and fortune never remains long indulgent.”
Breves et mutabiles vices rerum sunt, et fortuna nunquam simpliciter indulget.
Quintus Curtius Rufus Roman historian
IV, 14, 20.
Historiarum Alexandri Magni Macedonis Libri Qui Supersunt, Book IV
Alfred Austin (1835–1913) British writer and poet
Source: Poetry Quotes, Is Life Worth Living? http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/9/3/1/19316/19316.htm (1896)
Niccolo Machiavelli book The Prince
Original: (it) Conchiudo adunque, che, variando la fortuna, e gli uomini stando nei loro modi ostinati, sono felici mentre concordano insieme, e come discordano sono infelici. Io giudico ben questo, che sia meglio essere impetuoso, che rispettivo, perchè la Fortuna è donna; ed è necessario, volendola tener sotto, batterla, ed urtarla; e si vede che la si lascia più vincere da questi che da quelli che freddamente procedono.
Source: The Prince (1513), Ch. 25, as translated by RM Adams
“We want great men who, when fortune frowns, will not be discouraged.”
Henry Knox (1750–1806) Continental Army and US Army general, US Secretary of War
Reported in David McCullough, 1776 (2005), p. 201.
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
“Men will not forget that Pancho Villa was loyal to the cause of the people.”
Pancho Villa (1878–1923) Mexican revolutionary
As quoted in Pancho Villa: Rebel of the Mexican Revolution (2006) by Mary Englar
“According to polygamy, men are royals and women so loyal.”
Mwanandeke Kindembo (1996) Congolese author