“Never pass by a chance to shut up.”
Robert Silverberg (1935) American speculative fiction writer and editor
Source: Short fiction, The Emperor and the Maula (2007), p. 477
Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayar (1991)
“Never pass by a chance to shut up.”
Robert Silverberg (1935) American speculative fiction writer and editor
Source: Short fiction, The Emperor and the Maula (2007), p. 477
“Never pass up a chance to have sex or appear on television.”
Gore Vidal (1925–2012) American writer
Quoted by Bob Chieger, Was It Good For You, Too? (1983).
1980s
“Never miss a good chance to shut up.”
Will Rogers (1879–1935) American humorist and entertainer
The Manly Wisdom of Will Rogers (2001)
“I never miss a good chance to shut up”
James Patterson book Along Came a Spider
Source: Along Came a Spider
“Sometimes there is no next time, no time-outs, no second chances. Sometimes it’s now or never.”
Alan Bennett (1934) English actor, author
“I never do anything by chance.”
Brigitte Bardot (1934) French model, actor, singer and animal rights activist
Nelson Algren book A Walk on the Wild Side
In jail, Cross-Country Kline to Dove Linkhorn.
Source: A Walk on the Wild Side (1956)
Context: But blow wise to this, buddy, blow wise to this: Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own. Never let nobody talk you into shaking another man's jolt. And never you cop another man's plea. I've tried 'em all and I know. They don't work. / Life is hard by the yard, son. But you don't have to do it by the yard. By the inch it's a cinch. And money can't buy everything. For example: poverty.
“The lucky man is he who knows how much to leave to chance.”
C. S. Forester book Lord Hornblower
Lord Hornblower (1946), p. 52.
Spider Robinson (1948) Canadian author
God Is An Iron (1977)
Context: Call it… joy. The thing like pleasure that you feel when you've done a good thing or passed up a real tempting chance to do a bad thing. Or when the unfolding of the universe just seems especially apt. It's nowhere near as flashy and intense as pleasure can be. Believe me! But it's got something going for it. Something that can make you do without pleasure, or even accept a lot of pain, to get it.